For Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms, change will have to start at the top

While many are applauding Twitter for taking a stand against misleading and incedinary Tweets, a University of Delaware professor doesn’t see real change happening until those running the company look more like those they should be protecting.

“As long as Silicon Valley continues to be a majority of white men who run these tech firms, we will continue to see technology being innovated that does not take into account the privacy and security of women, people of color and those in the LGBT community,” said Lindsay Hoffman, a professsor of communication and expert on social media and its impact on public opinion.

Hoffman said we also can’t expect CEOs to be able to retroactively fix problems that weren’t even considered in the first place, such as the broadcasting of the killing of an unarmed civilian by a police office. “Think about Facebook Live. Where were the sexual assault victims? People of color? Who sitting around that table didn’t think of the fact that someone might use Facebook Live to murder someone? To assault someone? To spread hate?”

Twitter is squarely in the spotlight, embroidered in a controversy where Donald Trump is utilizing a private platform to make public announcements, but is violating its terms and conditions.

“This puts Twitter (and Facebook and others) in a bind. Again, what’s so important here is we needed people sitting at that table who could provide experience and knowledge outside of white men in Silicon Valley,” Hoffman said.

Original post https://alertarticles.info