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Hypocritical
: Facebook COO
Sheryl Sandberg
likes to claim that the company takes systematic action against hatred and agitation.
Photo: STAFF / REUTERS
On Monday,
Sheryl Sandberg
(51) once again
proved
how ill-suited to her job as Facebook's Chief Operating Officer.
When asked about the locks with which Facebook has been blocking the accounts of US President
Donald Trump
(74)
since last week
, she was lamb-pious and determined: "Even the president is not above our rules," claimed Sandberg.
Otherwise, she largely rejected Facebook's responsibility for the recent riots in Washington.
It was the typical Sandberg show, a mixture of hypocrisy and empty phrases.
It is perfidious to come up with a constitution and compliance with the rules if you only had your eye on the next quarterly profit for years.
As if Trump, his family and supporters hadn't disregarded Facebook's "rules" before.
To present yourself as morally superior is at least embarrassing.
Because it was Sandberg and her boss
Mark Zuckerberg
(36) who offered Trump and many of his nefarious supporters a platform on which they could stir up hatred and conspiracy.
Facebook's software rewards emotional posts that are often shared or commented on.
Regardless of whether it is about alleged pedophile conspiracies or a call for bone marrow donation.
They form the basis of the business model of most social media platforms.
That is why they resist so much against setting real limits.
You don't want to set a precedent.
One can even propose that Trump would not have come into office without Facebook's nefariousness.
Warnings from former comrades-in-arms of disinformation and abuse, such as that of the early Facebook investor
Roger McNamee
(64), were hardly heeded at the Menlo Park headquarters.
You have to give Sandberg credit for being no exception in her environment.
In Silicon Valley, people not only suffer from barely affordable rents, environmental pollution or the Californian conflagration.
For years there has been a lack of managers with a backbone and an intact sense of morality.
In view of the growing power of the tech companies, this is fatal and less and less fulfills their responsibilities.
Just take a look at the events of the last few days.
Now that Trump is about to leave, the tech companies dare to take action against him and the extremists who support him.
It is reasonable to assume that this is also about a hasty appeasement against the coming Biden government.
Even the room broker Airbnb and the short video network Snapchat, otherwise not known for political integrity, are now part of the tech movement of the supposedly purified.
The corporations block accounts or block payments.
A cynical idea.
Many measures are correct in principle, but come too timidly or too late.
Facebook, Twitter or Youtube do not suddenly sacrifice their business success for good.
Even if the share price of Twitter initially collapsed: The business model of the social media giants is not endangered by the measures that affect comparatively few accounts.
The lockdowns have little to do with real reforms.
Above all, Facebook and the Google parent Alphabet have been earning splendidly for years, despite scandals and increasing control efforts.
Even the threatened split by the US competition authorities has so far had little impact on their streak of success.
Analysts estimate that Facebook's sales rose again by almost 25 percent in the most recent quarter.
That is the core of the failure of Zuckerberg & Co .: Your companies could operate extremely profitably even if they took more consistent action against hatred, misinformation and violence.
This course is not sustainable.
It endangers the business model of internet companies.
Social cohesion and an intact democracy, which are also part of the business basis for many of their advertising customers, are coming under increasing pressure in the West.
The rampant disinformation is now even endangering public health in the Corona crisis.
So the pressure on governments to finally intervene is growing.
It is no coincidence that Chancellor
Angela Merkel
(66) or the French Minister of Economics
Bruno Le Maire
(51) interfered in the debate yesterday and criticized the ban on Trump issued by the corporations.
Social networks must finally be more strictly regulated and controlled.
And from the state.
Their bosses and founders have proven that they are incapable of doing this themselves.
