Whistleblower is right. Facebook should not get a free pass
Good evening. Today we have columns about Facebook, an editorial from our Board and a column from Facebook's vice president of global affairs. We also have a piece about Jon Gruden, the NFL coach who made headlines after stepping down from his job after reports of him using racist and homophobic language.
Whistleblower is right. Facebook should not get a free pass.
By The Editorial Board
In the nearly two decades since Facebook's inception, it has provoked one controversy after another over the handling or mishandling of information scraped from now billions of users – from the Beacon scandal of 2007 to Cambridge Analytica in 2018.
Always there was the ritual: a grand summoning of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Capitol Hill (he has testified seven times), a little grandstanding by lawmakers who ask an ill-informed question or two, and then nothing. But this time, the meticulous rollout of revelations from former Facebook product manager and data scientist Frances Haugen in a Wall Street Journal series, a "60 Minutes" segment and in Senate testimony has had a different and galvanizing effect.
Armed with tens of thousands of pages of Facebook's own internal research, Haugen offered a peek under the friend-me firm's hood, and it wasn't pretty.
Today's Editorial Cartoon
We agree it's long past time for Congress to set clear and fair rules for the internet
By Nick Clegg
Much has been said about Facebook recently, but there’s one thing we agree on: Congress should pass new internet regulations.
We’ve been advocating for new rules for several years. For too long, many important issues have been left to private companies to decide.
But while new internet rules are being written in Europe, India, Australia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, the U.S. tech regulation efforts have stalled. Here are some areas where Congress could act:
Jon Grudens inhabit every workplace in America. It is not OK.
By Suzette Hackney
"I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone."
With those words, Jon Gruden walked away Monday evening from the Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL after emails he authored surfaced castigating female referees, a gay draftee, a Black union executive and players kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice.
Give Gruden credit: At least he's an equal opportunity bigot.
Other columns to check out
- We need to raise taxes, but fairly. And leave existing Roth IRAs alone.
- My job used to come first. But the pandemic changed me as a father.
- Clinton-Penny thriller: An ex-president just like Trump
- Bryan Ruby: My life changed after coming out as a gay baseball player
This column was compiled by Jaden Amos.