Call me antisocial, but I deleted my X account last year. I’ve made exactly one Facebook post in each of the past two years.
I’ve been in local journalism long enough — and at the right time — to watch social media support, usurp, and ultimately dismantle my profession around me. I’ve watched with disgust (and that’s precisely the right word) as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk padded their pockets by monetizing content exploiting our society’s most base desires, all along knowing the harm their platforms have caused.
Social media is like strong medicine, it turns out. There’s always been good to be found, but the side-effects become intolerable over time.
Maybe that’s why I was struck Thursday night by a brief section of outgoing President Joe Biden’s farewell address. Biden offered a warning about the rise of a “tech-industrial complex” as social media billionaires cozy up to our nation’s highest seats of political might.
“The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking,” Biden said. “The truth is smothered by lies, told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power.”
Biden went on to say, “it’s going to be up to the president, the presidency, the Congress, the courts, the free press, and the American people to confront these powerful forces” while also touching on artificial intelligence’s potential for both benefit and harm to democracy.
It’s clear that the tech billionaires see President-elect Donald Trump’s second term as an opportunity to exploit. Trump’s inauguration donor and attendee list reads like a who’s who of Silicon Valley — Musk, Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sunda Pichai, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Apple CEO Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, among others.
It’s not exactly the “people over profits” crowd, so count me among those skeptical about big tech’s willingness to police itself. That’s where Trump, Congress and the courts will walk the razor’s edge of protecting free speech in an era when this most basic American right can be weaponized by bad actors both foreign and domestic and disseminated for maximum harm.
A free press remains vital to helping the American people understand this evolving nexus of big tech and our nation’s politics. “Crumbling” as it may be, it’s the alternative to these powerful platforms monopolizing the flow of information about their own attempts to influence and wield our nation’s considerable might.
Thankfully, examining these issues isn’t the sole purview of those in Washington, D.C. Local lawmakers, local citizens and, yes, local journalists are leading these discussions across the country.
Last week, Indiana Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, introduced a bill that would require parental consent before Hoosiers younger than 16 can access social media.
IndyStar senior politics reporter Hayleigh Colombo wrote of the bill: Such policies are gaining traction nationwide as concerns grow about the impacts of social media on minors. For example, Florida residents under age 14 are now banned from accessing social media platforms. And Tennessee also now requires social media companies to verify parental consent for minor users. The Tennessee law resulted in a lawsuit filed by Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta, alleging free speech violations.
While acknowledging that motivated youth have ample ways to get around the bill’s provisions, Bohaceck said the safety of children gives the state a “compelling enough reason to be able to put these restrictions in place.”
ACLU executive director Christopher Daley testified against the bill, stating it would open up Indiana to litigation and infringe on younger Hoosiers’ First Amendment rights, Colombo reported.
I don’t pretend to be smart enough to know if or where a line can be drawn concerning Americans’ open access to and expression of information. But as the father of three children who will grow up in an era when “is this real or an attempt to mislead me” will be the question of their time, I’m grateful for the leadership of Bohaceck and Daley in wrestling with the issue.
I’m also grateful that Biden is only half right in his assessment of the free press that’s here to bring these discussions to light in the communities we serve. Diminished as the national press corps’ headcount may be, Hoosiers don’t have to look far for a counterpoint to “disappearing editors.”
Not when IndyStar has added 14 journalists since this time last year. Not when Mirror Indy launched in December 2023 with nearly 20 journalists as part of Free Press Indiana’s efforts to expand journalism across the state. Not when our peers in numerous other newsrooms in Indy and across the state stand ready to tell Indiana’s stories.
Journalists are hypercompetitive. You can expect us to fight for scoops, to compete to hire and retain talented reporters, photographers and editors who are dedicated to telling Indiana’s stories. We’re not always going to move in unison, but more journalists is a good thing for Indianapolis.
Why? Because to a person we stand resolute to rise to the challenge Biden set forth. To confront these powerful forces with you, for you.
Thank you, as always, for reading IndyStar.
Eric Larsen is IndyStar executive editor. Reach him at [email protected].
This post was originally published on here
