Stansberry weighs in on social media regulation debate in Capital Tonight appearance

Kathleen Stansberry, assistant professor of communications, was a guest on the statewide news program from Spectrum News for a discussion about political censorship on social media. 

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Leaders from Facebook and Twitter offered their thoughts to Congress on increased regulation of their platforms this week amid accusations that certain opinions are being deliberately muffled on social media. 

It’s an issue Kathleen Stansberry, assistant professor of communications, explored during her appearance Wednesday on Capital Tonight, a statewide news program from Spectrum News hosted by Tim Boyum. Stansberry was joined by conservative commentator Chad Adams and technology reporter Hayley Tsukayama of The Washington Post. 

The discussion centered around claims of political censorship by social media platforms and whether, and how, social media platforms should be regulated. Asked about the current state of the internet, Stansberry responded that we are coming out of the “wild, wild west era” but the web is still largely accessible and is a platform that people can use to reach large swaths of the public. 

“That is unique and that is different and that is built upon many of the foundations that make the web a wonderful place,” Stansberry said. “But we are facing less decentralization and more centralization among major players like Google and Facebook and Twitter.”

Watch the entire segment here