In a speech on disinformation, Obama said social media firms' design choices contribute to polarization, and called for more transparency and Section 230 reform

- Former President Barack Obama criticized social media companies for contributing to polarization through design choices on their platforms.

CNBC 2022-04-22 Lauren Feiner

Context & Ripple Effects

Obama’s 2022 speech extends his earlier warning that fake news could poison politics by tying polarization not only to content but to social platforms’ product-design choices. It also lands as Democrats were already pressing the Biden administration to prioritize tech rules before electoral control shifted.

First-order effects

Social media firms are put under renewed public pressure to explain how platform design affects polarization, alongside Obama’s call for greater transparency.
Section 230 reform is elevated as part of the disinformation debate rather than a narrow liability question.

Second-order effects

Democratic tech-policy advocates gain a prominent ally for an agenda that already included tighter oversight of major internet platforms, increasing the salience of transparency and intermediary-liability proposals.
Platform operators face a policy debate that joins content governance to interface and product-design decisions, not only to individual moderation actions.

Third-order effects

If this framing persists, platform governance will increasingly assess how systems shape the spread and visibility of information, moving regulation beyond a simple remove-or-leave-up model.
Section 230’s future may be debated alongside transparency obligations, creating a more integrated approach to platform accountability rather than treating liability protections in isolation.

The trend: Platform regulation is shifting from policing individual content toward scrutinizing the design and transparency of systems that shape public discourse.

Discussion

@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Obama proposes some values he thinks social platforms should adopt when making decisions that affect speech. - Whether it strengthens or weakens the prospects for a healthy democracy - Whether it encourages robust debate and respect for differences
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
I was apprehensive about Obama taking on “disinfo” but he's starting off on a solid, nuanced note: framing social media as accelerating existing cultural divides, some of which is an inevitable byproduct of a connected world and some the result of specific decisions & biz models.…
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x
A few clear areas of focus by @BarackObama : 1) Transparency around platform designs 2) CDA230 reform that zeroes in on paid content (ads) 3) Finding way to boost ad revenue to local news orgs
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
“Shut up,” Obama explained.
@barackobama Barack Obama on x
Disinformation is a threat to our democracy, and will continue to be unless we work together to address it. Tune in as I share some thoughts on what we can all do now. https://twitter.com/...
@marietjeschaake @marietjeschaake on x
‘We expect technology companies to affirm the importance of our democratic institutions, another Northstar than making money and increasing marketshare’ ⁦@BarackObama⁩ at ⁦@StanfordCyber⁩ ↘️ https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
If Obama is going to keep making online speech and social media a signature issue, it would be good to see him take on some of the policy fronts that could have more dramatic impacts on the industry and business model, like data privacy and competition.
@eugene_scott Eugene Scott on x
Obama: “Without some standards, the implications of this technology for our elections, for our legal system, for our democracy, for rules of evidence, for our entire social order, are frightening and profound.” https://twitter.com/...
@zeynep @zeynep on x
So, Barack Obama has taken up fighting disinformation. NYT notes how his administration didn't regulate tech. When I started writing about it, a decade ago, the pushback I got from the Obama universe was intense, and is hinted at the below profile of me.🧵https://www.nytimes.com/ …
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Obama spoke mostly in generalities but he did reference a few specific policy ideas. I'll point those interested in the details to this thread from our tech policy reporter in DC, the great @viaCristiano: https://twitter.com/... (scroll up from that tweet)
@qjurecic @qjurecic on x
so far it sounds like he wants some kind of 230 ad carveout (doesn't fill me with optimism given the state of the SAFE TECH Act)
@hakeemjefferson Hakeem Jefferson on x
Obama waded into a complicated, values-laden policy space filled w/trade offs at every turn, and delivered a thoughtful speech abt the internet, misinformation, social media, and the future of democracy in the US and around the world. Worth checking if these topics interest you. …
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
@viaCristiano Obama wraps up with what is essentially a “yes we can” rallying cry, but about fixing social media. The tone and structure of this big finish should be familiar to anyone who lived through his presidency...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
In other words, Obama has done a pretty fantastic job catching up to where thoughtful critics of social media had arrived by, let's say, 2018. And he articulated it in a characteristically eloquent, relatable, and motivating way.
@katieharbath Katie Harbath on x
@swodinsky @WillOremus Been wondering that myself.
@oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x
This Obama speech, which is really about information disorder and our jacked up algorithms, is a very good 101 about how social networks supercharge — but don't create — our worst instincts. Definitely feels like the start of a policy initiative, not a panacea.
@marklittlenews Mark Little on x
An important thread from a brave voice. Among the many truths here is that tackling misinformation is not about defending the conventional wisdom. https://twitter.com/...
@samfbiddle Sam Biddle on x
Obama's ideas here are nice-sounding and engineered to be uncontroversial, but vague to the point of meaningless. like, nobody outside of open fascists oppose something that “strengthens the prospects for a healthy democracy.” good luck getting anyone to agree on what that means!…
@jonathanturley Jonathan Turley on x
By the way, as someone who is routinely called a free speech absolutist, Obama is hardly viewed as a champion for free speech — as is evident by his advocacy for censorship. It is akin to claiming to be a vegetarian absolutist while calling for mandatory meat consumption.
@maxblumenthal Max Blumenthal on x
During his Stanford “disinformation” speech, Obama says he and @McFaul were interfering in Russian politics by organizing with opposition figures when “Putin receded from the foreground,” and boasts that his @ObamaFoundation fellows are now involved in the Ukraine information war…
@katrinapierson Katrina Pierson on x
If the American public is so dumbed down that they can't be trusted to discern fact from fiction then perhaps we should focus more attention on the failings of public education instead. https://twitter.com/...
@jackmjenkins Jack Jenkins on x
Really fascinated by this speech/thread. Obama is arguably pretty late to this convo, and a whole lotta folks on this platform is pretty well versed on social media's ills. But for a former POTUS to pinpoint this as an existential threat to democracy is certainly notable. https:/…
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Obama sees a role for government oversight of social platforms that is both critical to fixing them, and rightly constrained by the First Amendment. He gets that governments controlling online speech would be even worse in the long run than Zuck or Musk controlling it.
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Now for the hard part: What, concretely, to do about it? Whatever your view of the specific policies Obama endorsed, it's safe to say they're not commensurate with the scope of the problem as he sees it. At best, they'd be a start.
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
While laying out his concerns about its harms, Obama also rightly acknowledged how social media can be a force for good in certain ways, and strongly rejected a fatalistic response from tech, society, and government.
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Obama rightly frames social media as part of a broader infosphere, w/ platforms both feeding on and influencing traditional media. “Tech companies & social media platforms are not the only distributors of toxic information, I promise you: I've spent a lot of time in Washington.”
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
AMEN to last tweet although I highly recommend the entire thread. Facebook is actively pushing regulation convo around content moderation - Zuckerberg's 2019 Georgetown speech was a strategy to move debate there and hug 1A as Google does. @BarackObama is ready for graduate class.…
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
Your administration prosecuted more whistleblowers under the espionage act than any previous administration in US history. That's a threat to democracy, Mr President. https://twitter.com/...
@jonathanturley Jonathan Turley on x
Barack Obama insisted yesterday that he is “close to a First Amendment absolutist” and then argued for censorship. Notably, he did not say he was close to a free speech absolutist (who also oppose private censorship).https://www.nytimes.com/ ...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
And here's the full story on Obama's speech, including a lot of context that my sporadic/selective live-tweeting missed, from @lizzadwoskin: https://twitter.com/...
@paulachertok @paulachertok on x
@BarackObama @FSIStanford Here's a transcript of Obama's speech @FSIStanford today on the challenges of disinformation for our democracy. Among other things, he addressed both the supply and demand sides, and set forth some principles to help break thru the propaganda information…
@jbf1755 Dr. Joanne Freeman on x
It is indeed very easy to underestimate the degree to which democracies are profoundly vulnerable to disinformation, including ours. https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
My initial thoughts: Overall, Obama evinced a strong grasp of social media's role in society, for both good and ill. He's clearly done a lot of homework here—more so than a lot of the bigwigs who have parachuted in to lecture on it in the past.
@evan_greer Evan Greer on x
Who decides whether a piece of content (or even the design of an algorithm) strengthens or weakens democracy? How would you measure such a thing? Just so skeptical of all of this tbh https://twitter.com/...
@elbaradei Mohamed ElBaradei on x
Meanwhile there is talk of one individual taking over @Twitter ... https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
That said, care is warranted if the government is going to intervene in matters even in the general vicinity of promoting or discouraging certain types of speech. And even a few baby steps to regulate social media platforms would be more than we've done so far.
@ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x
I like how Obama frames a supply/demand problem. SUPPLY: comes from tech platforms, and misinfo they host. He says platforms want to be do better. But they don't do much with the super spreaders of misinfo who are also creating profits. There needs to be outside gov oversight
@amymcgrathky Amy McGrath on x
A worthy fight! Glad he is doing this. https://twitter.com/...
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima on x
Obama is notably zeroing in on social media companies' business models & the way they design their products, talking about how digital ad revenue flows not to news orgs but to platforms that maximize engagement & can stoke outrage and divisions
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Obama was at his best when puncturing tech platforms' pose of neutrality; highlighting the influence of both their content moderation decisions *and* their product design on online speech; and calling on them to articulate and commit to a positive set of values to guide both.
@carnage4life @carnage4life on x
I'd love to see the first social media platform to take down posts because they believe it “weakens democracy” because Obama said so. It's even worse censorship than people already complain about with less ability to correlate to real world harm. It's a great talking point tho. h…
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
It's great so far. Really spot on. Just waiting for him to touch on the market power and data abuse under the surface that arbitrages the value and fuels these issues. https://twitter.com/...
@ceciliakang Cecilia Kang on x
One key regulation: transparency on algorithmic ranking systems. He goes into the hot dog analogy. You trust it's going to be safe. You trust the meat packers. Because there is transparency on food safety.
@swodinsky @swodinsky on x
@WillOremus is it just me or is he talking about this topic..... a lot lately?
@sirsteven @sirsteven on x
it's very obvious that Musk running Twitter would unleash a lot of raw sewage https://twitter.com/...
@pmarca Marc Andreessen on x
Will former President Obama call for more censorship at Stanford tomorrow? I'll be surprised and impressed if he doesn't. https://twitter.com/...

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