In a speech on disinformation, Obama said social media firms' design choices contribute to polarization, and called for more transparency and Section 230 reform
including over the First Amendment—I didn't expect to find much to agree with in this speech. But it's actually very good, and worth reading, even if I don't agree with all of it. THREAD https://techpolicy.press/... Ari Cohn / @aricohn : 11/ Again, I like that Obama stressed that online speech didn't cause society's ills, and that addressing disinformation will not solve them. And I agree that societal efforts to combat it can build bridges and make the world better. But we can't legislate that into existence. https://twitter.com/... Mike Masnick / @mmasnick : A different perspective than my take on his speech, but similarly critical about the lack of anything really new. https://twitter.com/... Brendan Nyhan / @brendannyhan : Awesome to see new @dbroockman and @j_kalla study (https://osf.io/jrw26/) described at length in Obama's speech yesterday https://barackobama.medium.com/ ... https://twitter.com/... @stopfundinghate : “Each of us, whether we work at a tech company or consume social media, whether we are a parent, a legislator, an advertiser on one of these platforms, now's the time to pick a side.... Do we allow our democracy to wither or do we make it better?” https://barackobama.medium.com/ ... Brian Stelter / @brianstelter : Obama: “Right now, just like politics itself, just like our public lives, social media has a grimness to it. We're so fatalistic about the steady stream of bile and vitriol that's on there, but it doesn't have to be that way...” https://barackobama.medium.com/ ... Marc Andreessen / @pmarca : “Shut up,” Obama explained. Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : 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 @zeynep : 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/ ... https://twitter.com/... Barack Obama / @barackobama : 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/... Eugene Scott / @eugene_scott : 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/... Max Blumenthal / @maxblumenthal : 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 https://twitter.com/... @sirsteven : it's very obvious that Musk running Twitter would unleash a lot of raw sewage https://twitter.com/... Mark Little / @marklittlenews : 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/... @marietjeschaake : ‘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/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. @paulachertok : @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 bubble. https://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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/... Katrina Pierson / @katrinapierson : 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/... Hakeem Jefferson / @hakeemjefferson : 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. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jonathan Turley / @jonathanturley : 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. Jonathan Turley / @jonathanturley : 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/ ... Sam Biddle / @samfbiddle : 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! https://twitter.com/... Dr. Joanne Freeman / @jbf1755 : It is indeed very easy to underestimate the degree to which democracies are profoundly vulnerable to disinformation, including ours. https://twitter.com/... Katie Harbath / @katieharbath : @swodinsky @WillOremus Been wondering that myself. @swodinsky : @WillOremus is it just me or is he talking about this topic..... a lot lately? Jack Jenkins / @jackmjenkins : 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://twitter.com/... Mohamed ElBaradei / @elbaradei : Meanwhile there is talk of one individual taking over @Twitter ... https://twitter.com/... Amy McGrath / @amymcgrathky : A worthy fight! Glad he is doing this. https://twitter.com/... @qjurecic : 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) Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : @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... Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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) Jason Kint / @jason_kint : 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. https://twitter.com/... Evan Greer / @evan_greer : 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/... @carnage4life : 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. https://twitter.com/... Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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 : 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/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : 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/... Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias : Thread here ... I have been critical of Dems' disinfo focus but Obama's treatment of the issue is nuanced and smart https://twitter.com/... Ben Collins / @oneunderscore__ : 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. Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : 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 Cecilia Kang / @ceciliakang : 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. Will Oremus / @willoremus : 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.” Cristiano Lima / @viacristiano : 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 Marc Andreessen / @pmarca : Will former President Obama call for more censorship at Stanford tomorrow? I'll be surprised and impressed if he doesn't. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Obama had already framed false information as a threat to political discourse in his earlier warning about fake news poisoning politics. The current intervention moves the emphasis from content alone toward the product and business decisions that shape its distribution.
It also sits alongside pressure for platform intervention after Michelle Obama urged permanent action against leaders using platforms to fuel insurrection and Democrats' push to make tech regulation a federal priority. Obama's call links transparency, liability rules and support for local-news advertising into one policy agenda.
First-order effects
- Facebook and Google face renewed pressure to disclose more about platform design and algorithms, while Section 230 becomes part of the disinformation-policy debate.
- Local news organizations gain a prominent advocate for mechanisms that redirect more advertising revenue toward their business models.
Second-order effects
- Platform policy debates shift toward whether ranking and design choices—not only individual posts—should be subject to public scrutiny and reform.
- News publishers and platforms have a stronger incentive to contest who should bear the cost of sustaining local reporting as advertising-revenue remedies enter the same discussion.
Third-order effects
- If this framing persists, platform governance will increasingly treat interface design, algorithmic transparency and liability as connected levers for rebuilding trust in information systems.
- The longer-running policy split will center on reforms that constrain platform incentives without treating online speech as the sole cause of broader social problems.
The trend: Disinformation policy is broadening from content moderation toward governance of the design, incentives and information-market role of major platforms.