Dear Facebook, this is how you're breaking democracy | Yael Eisenstat

Translator: Ditte Christensen Reviewer: Emma Toft

Around five years ago,

Jeg opdagede for cirka fem år siden,

it struck me that I was losing the ability

at jeg ikke længere kunne diskutere

to engage with people who aren't like-minded.

med folk jeg var uenig med.

The idea of discussing hot-button issues with my fellow Americans

Det var mere skræmmende, at diskutere alvorlige emner

was starting to give me more heartburn

med mine landsmænd, end det var

than the times that I engaged with suspected extremists overseas.

at interagere med ekstremister i udlandet.

It was starting to leave me feeling more embittered and frustrated.

Det gjorde mig mere bitter og frustreret.

And so just like that,

Og lige pludselig

I shifted my entire focus

skiftede hele mit fokus

from global national security threats

fra globale sikkerhedstrusler

to trying to understand what was causing this push

til at forstå den øgede polarisering

towards extreme polarization at home.

herhjemme.

As a former CIA officer and diplomat

Som en tidligere CIA-ansat og diplomat,

who spent years working on counterextremism issues,

der har brugt år på at bekæmpe ekstremisme,

I started to fear that this was becoming a far greater threat to our democracy

følte jeg, at dette var farligere for vores demokrati

than any foreign adversary.

end nogen fremmed fjende.

And so I started digging in,

Så jeg dykkede ned i emnet

and I started speaking out,

og begyndte at snakke om det,

which eventually led me to being hired at Facebook

hvilket fik mig hyret af Facebook

and ultimately brought me here today

og i sidste ende bragte mig her,

to continue warning you about how these platforms

for fortsat at advare jer om, hvordan disse platforme

are manipulating and radicalizing so many of us

manipulerer og radikaliserer mange af os,

and to talk about how to reclaim our public square.

og for at snakke om, hvordan vi forbedre den offentlige debat.

I was a foreign service officer in Kenya

Få år efter angrebene d. 11. september

just a few years after the September 11 attacks,

arbejdede jeg for CIA i Kenya, hvor vi førte

and I led what some call "hearts and minds" campaigns

en "hearts and minds"-kampagner

along the Somalia border.

langs Somalias grænse.

A big part of my job was to build trust with communities

En stor del af mit job var at opbygge tillid med de samfund,

deemed the most susceptible to extremist messaging.

der var mest sårbare for ekstremisterne idéer.

I spent hours drinking tea with outspoken anti-Western clerics

Jeg drak te med anti-vestlige gejstlige

and even dialogued with some suspected terrorists,

og var endda i dialog med nogle terrormistænkte.

and while many of these engagements began with mutual suspicion,

Mange af disse interaktioner begyndte med fælles mistillid,

I don't recall any of them resulting in shouting or insults,

men ingen førte til råben eller fornærmelser,

and in some case we even worked together on areas of mutual interest.

og i nogle tilfælde samarbejdede vi endda på grund af delte interesser.

The most powerful tools we had were to simply listen, learn

Vores mest magtfulde redskaber var at lytte, lære

and build empathy.

og opbygge empati.

This is the essence of hearts and minds work,

Det er sådan "hearts and minds" fungerer,

because what I found again and again is that what most people wanted

for jeg så ofte, at folk basalt set ønsker

was to feel heard, validated and respected.

at blive hørt, bekræftet og respekteret.

And I believe that's what most of us want.

Og jeg tror, de fleste af os ønsker dette.

So what I see happening online today is especially heartbreaking

Så hvad der nu sker online, er særligt sørgeligt og

and a much harder problem to tackle.

et meget større problem.

We are being manipulated by the current information ecosystem

Vi bliver manipuleret af det nuværende informationsøkosystem,

entrenching so many of us so far into absolutism

der skubber mange af os mod ekstremisme,

that compromise has become a dirty word.

at "kompromis" er blevet et bandeord.

Because right now,

Fordi lige nu,

social media companies like Facebook

tjener sociale medier som Facebook

profit off of segmenting us and feeding us personalized content

penge på at dele os og give os personliggjort indhold,

that both validates and exploits our biases.

der både bekræfter og udnytter vores fordomme.

Their bottom line depends on provoking a strong emotion

De går efter at vække stærke følelser

to keep us engaged,

for at holde os engageret,

often incentivizing the most inflammatory and polarizing voices,

hvilket ofte giver luft til de mest ekstreme og polariserende meninger,

to the point where finding common ground no longer feels possible.

så det ikke længere synes muligt at kunne enes.

And despite a growing chorus of people crying out for the platforms to change,

Og selvom flere og flere ønsker, at platformene skal ændres,

it's clear they will not do enough on their own.

så gør de det tydeligvis ikke af sig selv.

So governments must define the responsibility

Så regeringer må definere ansvaret

for the real-world harms being caused by these business models

for de virkelige skader dette forårsager,

and impose real costs on the damaging effects

og sørge for, at den skadende indflydelse det har

they're having to our public health, our public square and our democracy.

på vores helbred, folkestemning og demokrati får konsekvenser.

But unfortunately, this won't happen in time for the US presidential election,

Dette sker uheldigvis ikke før det amerikanske præsidentvalg,

so I am continuing to raise this alarm,

så jeg vil fortsat advare folk,

because even if one day we do have strong rules in place,

for selv hvis vi en dag får strengere regler,

it will take all of us to fix this.

er der brug for os alle, når det skal løses.

When I started shifting my focus from threats abroad

Da mit fokus skiftede fra udenlandske trusler

to the breakdown in civil discourse at home,

til den ødelæggende tone herhjemme,

I wondered if we could repurpose some of these hearts and minds campaigns

overvejede jeg, om vi kunne bruge "hearts and minds"-kampagner

to help heal our divides.

til at hele vores forskelle.

Our more than 200-year experiment with democracy works

Vores 200 år lange demokratieksperiment

in large part because we are able to openly and passionately

virker til dels, fordi vi åbent og lidenskabeligt

debate our ideas for the best solutions.

kan debattere vores idéer og finde de bedste løsninger.

But while I still deeply believe

Selvom jeg stadig tror på

in the power of face-to-face civil discourse,

ansigt-til-ansigt debatters magt,

it just cannot compete

kan de ikke konkurrere

with the polarizing effects and scale of social media right now.

med sociale mediers udbredelse og polariserende betydning lige nu.

The people who are sucked down these rabbit holes

Folk, der bliver suget ned i disse raserigrave

of social media outrage

på sociale medier,

often feel far harder to break of their ideological mindsets

har ofte sværere ved at bryde med deres ideologiske tankegang

than those vulnerable communities I worked with ever were.

end det var for de sårbare samfund, som jeg arbejdede med.

So when Facebook called me in 2018

Så da Facebook kontaktede mig i 2018

and offered me this role

og tilbød mig et job,

heading its elections integrity operations for political advertising,

som leder for deres integritetstiltag i forbindelse med politiske valgreklamer,

I felt I had to say yes.

følte jeg en pligt til at sige ja.

I had no illusions that I would fix it all,

Jeg vidste, at jeg ikke kunne løse alt,

but when offered the opportunity

men når jeg fik muligheden

to help steer the ship in a better direction,

for at sætte en bedre kurs,

I had to at least try.

burde jeg i det mindste prøve.

I didn't work directly on polarization,

Jeg arbejdede ikke direkte med polarisering,

but I did look at which issues were the most divisive in our society

men så på de mest splittende emner,

and therefore the most exploitable in elections interference efforts,

og hvordan de bedst kunne bruges til at påvirke valg,

which was Russia's tactic ahead of 2016.

som russerne gjorde i 2016.

So I started by asking questions.

Jeg begyndte at stille spørgsmål.

I wanted to understand the underlying systemic issues

Jeg ville forstå systemets grundlæggende fejl,

that were allowing all of this to happen,

der tillod dette,

in order to figure out how to fix it.

for derved at finde en løsning.

Now I still do believe in the power of the internet

Jeg tror stadig på internettets magt

to bring more voices to the table,

til at give alle folk en stemme,

but despite their stated goal of building community,

men selvom de største sociale medier påstår,

the largest social media companies as currently constructed

at bringe folk sammen, så forhindrer deres nuværende opbygning

are antithetical to the concept of reasoned discourse.

en fornuftig debat.

There's no way to reward listening,

Man kan ikke belønne, at folk lytter,

to encourage civil debate

opfordre til venlig debat

and to protect people who sincerely want to ask questions

og eller beskytte folk, der ønsker at stille spørgsmål,

in a business where optimizing engagement and user growth

når branchens opskrift på succes er at øge folks deltagelse

are the two most important metrics for success.

og få flere brugere.

There's no incentive to help people slow down,

Der opfordres ikke til at hjælpe folk med at tage det roligt,

to build in enough friction that people have to stop,

til at skabe et miljø, hvor folk er nødt til at stoppe op,

recognize their emotional reaction to something,

evaluere deres følelsesmæssige reaktion på et emne

and question their own assumptions before engaging.

og se på deres egne antagelser, før de debatterer.

The unfortunate reality is:

Den ulykkelige onlinevirkelighed er,

lies are more engaging online than truth,

at løgne er mere interessante end sandheden,

and salaciousness beats out wonky, fact-based reasoning

og en verden, der er besat af viral spænding,

in a world optimized for frictionless virality.

elsker slibrige emner mere end kedelig og faktabaseret tankegang.

As long as algorithms' goals are to keep us engaged,

Så længe algoritmerne skal fordre vores deltagelse

they will continue to feed us the poison that plays to our worst instincts

vil de fortsat appellere til vores værste instinkter

and human weaknesses.

og menneskelige svagheder.

And yes, anger, mistrust,

USA har ført oplevet

the culture of fear, hatred:

vrede, mistillid,

none of this is new in America.

frygtkultur og had,

But in recent years, social media has harnessed all of that

men sociale medier har de sidste par år udnyttet disse,

and, as I see it, dramatically tipped the scales.

og derved gjort dem værre.

And Facebook knows it.

Facebook ved det godt.

A recent "Wall Street Journal" article

En ny artikel fra "Wall Street Journal"

exposed an internal Facebook presentation from 2018

afslørede en intern Facebook-præsentation fra 2018,

that specifically points to the companies' own algorithms

der beskylder firmaets egne algoritmer

for growing extremist groups' presence on their platform

for at øge antallet af ekstremistiske grupper på Facebook

and for polarizing their users.

og for at polarise deres brugere.

But keeping us engaged is how they make their money.

Men de tjener penge på at holde os engagerede.

The modern information environment is crystallized around profiling us

Det moderne informationsmiljø profilerer os for derefter

and then segmenting us into more and more narrow categories

at inddele os i mere og mere snævre kategorier

to perfect this personalization process.

for at afkode vores personlighed.

We're then bombarded with information confirming our views,

Vi bliver derefter fodret med information, der bekræfter vores meninger,

reinforcing our biases,

styrker vores fordomme

and making us feel like we belong to something.

og viser os, at vi hører til et sted.

These are the same tactics we would see terrorist recruiters

Terrorister bruger den samme teknik,

using on vulnerable youth,

når de rekrutterer sårbare unge,

albeit in smaller, more localized ways before social media,

dog på mindre og mere tilpassede måder før sociale medier,

with the ultimate goal of persuading their behavior.

med det endelig mål at ændre deres opførsel.

Unfortunately, I was never empowered by Facebook to have an actual impact.

Desværre gav Facebook mig ikke lov til at gøre en egentlig forskel.

In fact, on my second day, my title and job description were changed

Allerede på min anden dag blev min titel og jobbeskrivelse ændret,

and I was cut out of decision-making meetings.

og jeg kom ikke med til møder, hvor man tog beslutninger.

My biggest efforts,

Mine anstrengelser

trying to build plans

med at lægge planer,

to combat disinformation and voter suppression in political ads,

der bekæmpede misinformation og vælgerundertrykkelse i politiske reklamer

were rejected.

blev afvist.

And so I lasted just shy of six months.

Så jeg holdt kun i knap seks måneder.

But here is my biggest takeaway from my time there.

Men jeg lærte noget vigtigt i den tid:

There are thousands of people at Facebook

Der er tusindvis af folk hos Facebook,

who are passionately working on a product

der ønsker at arbejde med et produkt,

that they truly believe makes the world a better place,

som de oprigtigt tror gør verden bedre,

but as long as the company continues to merely tinker around the margins

men så længe firmaet knap nok berører

of content policy and moderation,

regler om indhold og mådehold,

as opposed to considering

fremfor at se på,

how the entire machine is designed and monetized,

hvordan hele maskinen er baseret på indtjening,

they will never truly address how the platform is contributing

vil de aldrig kunne forhindre, at Facebook skaber

to hatred, division and radicalization.

had, splittelse og radikalisering.

And that's the one conversation I never heard happen during my time there,

Og det blev aldrig berørt, mens jeg arbejdede der,

because that would require fundamentally accepting

for det ville kræve, at du accepterer,

that the thing you built might not be the best thing for society

at det du har opbygget, måske ikke er til samfundets bedste,

and agreeing to alter the entire product and profit model.

og accepterer at ændre hele produktet og indtjeningsmodellen.

So what can we do about this?

Så hvad kan vi gøre?

I'm not saying that social media bears the sole responsibility

Jeg siger ikke, at sociale medier bærer al skylden

for the state that we're in today.

for vores nuværende situation.

Clearly, we have deep-seated societal issues that we need to solve.

Vi har tydeligvis dybe problemer i samfundet, som vi skal løse.

But Facebook's response, that it is just a mirror to society,

Men når Facebook siger, at de blot er samfundets spejl,

is a convenient attempt to deflect any responsibility

forsøger de at undgå at tage ansvar

from the way their platform is amplifying harmful content

for den måde, deres platform forstærker skadeligt indhold,

and pushing some users towards extreme views.

og skubber brugere mod ekstremisme.

And Facebook could, if they wanted to,

Facebook kunne løse noget af dette,

fix some of this.

hvis de ville.

They could stop amplifying and recommending the conspiracy theorists,

De kunne stoppe med at fremme konspirationsteoretikere,

the hate groups, the purveyors of disinformation

hadgrupper, spredning af misinformation

and, yes, in some cases even our president.

og ja, nogle gange endda vores præsident.

They could stop using the same personalization techniques

De kunne stoppe med at bruge de samme profilereringsteknikker

to deliver political rhetoric that they use to sell us sneakers.

til at leve politik, som når de sælger os sko.

They could retrain their algorithms

De kunne ændre deres algoritmer

to focus on a metric other than engagement,

så de fokuserer på andet end deltagelse,

and they could build in guardrails to stop certain content from going viral

og opsætte barrierer, der forhindrer visse former for indhold,

before being reviewed.

at blive vist uden gennemgang.

And they could do all of this

Og alt dette kan gøres uden

without becoming what they call the arbiters of truth.

at de bliver, i deres egne ord, dommere over sandheden.

But they've made it clear that they will not go far enough

Men de har vist, at de ikke ønsker at gå langt nok

to do the right thing without being forced to,

for at gøre det rigtige uden tvang,

and, to be frank, why should they?

og ærlig talt, hvorfor skulle de?

The markets keep rewarding them, and they're not breaking the law.

Markederne belønner dem fortsat, og de bryder ikke loven.

Because as it stands,

For i øjeblikket

there are no US laws compelling Facebook, or any social media company,

har USA ingen love, der tvinger Facebook eller andre sociale medier

to protect our public square,

til at beskytte vores folkestemning,

our democracy

vores demokrati

and even our elections.

og endda vores valg.

We have ceded the decision-making on what rules to write and what to enforce

Vi lader CEOs fra indtjenende internetfirmaer bestemme,

to the CEOs of for-profit internet companies.

hvilker regler, der skal laves, og hvilke, der skal håndhæves.

Is this what we want?

Er det, hvad vi ønsker?

A post-truth world where toxicity and tribalism

En postfaktuel verden, hvor giftig tale og stammekultur

trump bridge-building and consensus-seeking?

slår forsøg på samarbejde og opnåelse af konsensus?

I do remain optimistic that we still have more in common with each other

Jeg forbliver optimistisk og tror, at vi har mere tilfælles

than the current media and online environment portray,

end hvad nutidens mediebillede og onlinemiljø påstår,

and I do believe that having more perspective surface

og jeg tror, at en mere perspektiveret tilgang

makes for a more robust and inclusive democracy.

giver et mere robust og inkluderende demokrati.

But not the way it's happening right now.

Men ikke som det sker lige nu.

And it bears emphasizing, I do not want to kill off these companies.

Jeg ønsker ikke, at slippe af med disse firmaer.

I just want them held to a certain level of accountability,

Jeg ønsker, at de skal holdes ansvarlige,

just like the rest of society.

ligesom resten af samfundet.

It is time for our governments to step up and do their jobs

Vores regeringer bør komme ind i kampen

of protecting our citizenry.

og beskytte vores borgere.

And while there isn't one magical piece of legislation

Og selvom der ikke er en magisk lov,

that will fix this all,

der kan løse det hele,

I do believe that governments can and must find the balance

så kan og må regeringer finde balancen

between protecting free speech

mellem at beskytte ytringsfriheden

and holding these platforms accountable for their effects on society.

og holde disse firmaer ansvarlige for deres påvirking af samfundet.

And they could do so in part by insisting on actual transparency

De kunne kræve åbenhed omkring,

around how these recommendation engines are working,

hvordan anbefalingerne foretages online,

around how the curation, amplification and targeting are happening.

og hvordan der organiseres, fremmes og målrettes.

You see, I want these companies held accountable

Jeg vil holde disse firmaer ansvarlige,

not for if an individual posts misinformation

ikke for individer, der poster falske oplysninger,

or extreme rhetoric,

eller ekstrem retorik,

but for how their recommendation engines spread it,

men for hvordan deres anbefalinger spreder det,

how their algorithms are steering people towards it,

hvordan deres algoritmer fører folk mod det

and how their tools are used to target people with it.

og hvordan deres værktøjer bruges til at målrette det efter folk.

I tried to make change from within Facebook and failed,

Jeg prøvede at ændre Facebook indefra men det slog fejl,

and so I've been using my voice again for the past few years

så de sidste par år har jeg i stedet brugt min stemme

to continue sounding this alarm

til advare folk om denne fare,

and hopefully inspire more people to demand this accountability.

og forhåbentlig opfordre flere folk til at forlange ansvarlighed.

My message to you is simple:

Min besked til jer er simpel:

pressure your government representatives

Pres jeres politikere til at stoppe

to step up and stop ceding our public square to for-profit interests.

overdragelsen af folkestemningen til indtjenende firmaer.

Help educate your friends and family

Fortæl venner og familie om,

about how they're being manipulated online.

hvordan de bliver manipuleret online.

Push yourselves to engage with people who aren't like-minded.

Tving jer selv til at tale med folk, der ikke deler jeres mening.

Make this issue a priority.

Gør dette til en prioritet.

We need a whole-society approach to fix this.

Vi har brug for hele samfundet for at løse dette.

And my message to the leaders of my former employer Facebook is this:

Og min besked til mine tidligere chefer hos Facebook er:

right now, people are using your tools exactly as they were designed

Lige nu bruger folk jeres værktøjer som de var designet,

to sow hatred, division and distrust,

altså til at sprede had, splittelse og mistillid,

and you're not just allowing it, you are enabling it.

og I ikke kun tillader det, men gør det nemmere.

And yes, there are lots of great stories

Og ja, der er mange gode historier

of positive things happening on your platform around the globe,

med positive ting, der sker på jeres platform rundt om i verden,

but that doesn't make any of this OK.

men det gør ikke dette OK.

And it's only getting worse as we're heading into our election,

Og det bliver kun værre, da vi er på vej til vores næste valg,

and even more concerning,

og endnu mere bekymrende,

face our biggest potential crisis yet,

når vi ser på vores største potentielle krise,

if the results aren't trusted, and if violence breaks out.

hvor mistillid til resultaterne kan ende med vold.

So when in 2021 you once again say, "We know we have to do better,"

Så når I igen i 2021 siger "Vi ved, vi skal blive bedre",

I want you to remember this moment,

så vil jeg have jer til at huske dette øjeblik,

because it's no longer just a few outlier voices.

for det er ikke længere kun nogle få stemmer på sidelinjen.

Civil rights leaders, academics,

Menneskerettighedsforekæmpere, akademikere,

journalists, advertisers, your own employees,

journalister, reklamefolk og jeres egne medarbejdere

are shouting from the rooftops

advarer højt og larmende om,

that your policies and your business practices

at jeres politikker og forretningsmodeller

are harming people and democracy.

skader folk og demokratiet.

You own your decisions,

I er ansvarlige for jeres beslutninger,

but you can no longer say that you couldn't have seen it coming.

men I kan ikke længere sige, at I ikke vidste, det ville ske.

Thank you.

Tak.