A CNN media analyst claims the country is in “trouble” with billionaires running social media platforms and what he views as insufficient regulation.
During a segment on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Sunday, David Zurawik, a professor of Media Studies at Goucher College, expressed concern that the country lacks sufficient regulation for social media.
“There’s a bigger problem here about how we are going to control the channels of communication in this country,” Zurawik began.
He continued, “In 1927, we had the Radio Act, 1934 the Communications Act. Congress stepped in. We made rules. [The] FCC wasn’t great, but it’s still regulating the broadcast industry…we gave over what amounts to our internet waves to Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. And we are in so much trouble because those guys believe in making money.”
He went on:
“This is dangerous. We can’t think anymore in this country. No, I’m serious, we don’t have people in Congress who can make regulations that can make it work. I think we can look to the western countries in Europe for how they are trying to limit it.”
Finally, Zurawik insisted, “You need controls on this. You need regulation. You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country, or we are headed to hell. We are there. Trump opened the gates of hell, and now they’re chasing us down.”
Watch the video below:
CNN's David Zurawik: "Dangerous" with Elon Musk buying Twitter, we need to look to Europe.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 1, 2022
"You need regulation. You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country or we are headed to hell. We are there. Trump opened the gates of hell and now they’re chasing us down." pic.twitter.com/QubyKZwVCQ
Zurawik’s comments come a week after Twitter announced it accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company.
In a statement about the deal, Musk said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” he added.
Before Twitter accepted his offer, some were fretting about the potential consequences of the deal.
MSNBC host Katy Tur said in April, “There are real and devastating consequences for using [Twitter] to lie.”
In case you missed it:
MSNBC's @KatyTurNBC: "There are real and devastating consequences for using [Twitter] to lie … @elonmusk wants to buy it, but there are — massive, life and globe-altering consequences for just letting people run wild on the thing.” pic.twitter.com/VVjsIvuHsa
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 14, 2022
“[Elon Musk] wants to buy it, but there are massive, life and globe-altering consequences for just letting people run wild on the thing,” she continued.