About Facebook censorship: Is Lithuania too small for negotiations with such a huge organization?
As the social network Facebook continued to block posts about Ukraine, Lithuanian governments took action. Negotiating with the organization “Meta” that manages the network. The LNK journalist talked about this with the State Chancellor Giedre Balčytyte.
– Has the Government, Lithuania, ever had to face the question of having to talk to such a giant of social networks about its censorship?
– Yes, the Government has been working with “Meta” for a long time. Especially intensively since last spring, after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine, because there was a wave of greater disinformation. And the Government already then started to cooperate, to talk with representatives of “Meta” about how we could curb the spread of disinformation with joint forces. At that time, we also talked about a completely different matter, how to anglicize that information, what should be done. We have communicated with Meta on various topics, at various levels. Both with the Meta representative office and regional managers. Those conversations happen all the time. It should be noted that when the conversation does not go in the right direction, then there are other measures that are considered by the Government together with the Seimas. These are both regulatory matters and other measures.
The entire LNK report is in the video:
– Explain so everyone better understands what’s going on. People are seeing posts from our opinion leaders disappear too. What specifically is happening in the social network in Lithuania?
– We see that profiles are blocked, posts disappear. Then we first want to find out why this is happening. We have published this call for those people whose profiles have been blocked to reach out and inform about it. In this way, we try to find out what causes led to the blockages. So that we can then talk about them with representatives of “Meta” and indicate them.
– How Meta explains its decision in this case. That algorithm step?
– This explains that there is an algorithm that makes one or another decision. Or it is a human decision. They don’t explain specific cases, so it’s a lot to talk about systemic things.
We see that profiles are blocked, posts disappear. Then we first want to find out the reason for all this.
– You notice that when it comes to the Russian narrative, it is unblockable? He is making his rounds on social media…
– Yes, to notice, but we are talking about why it is blocked, not not blocked, because at the moment we are most concerned about why the content is blocked, which is related to the support of Ukraine or one or another assessment of Russia.
– In this case, you say, there is a long-term negotiation process. Won’t we get there so soon, say in a few months?
– Yes, the “Meta” organization is large. And we, as I mentioned, are constantly working in that direction. We try to achieve the result through cooperation. If this does not solve the problem, there are regulatory measures. Since we see a lot of misinformation, we are considering what we could correctly regulate in Lithuania so that some things become impossible, that is, illegal. But there is another thing. Lithuania is, of course, the largest country, and “Meta”, as I mentioned, is a large organization. Therefore, it is very important to gather partners and other countries that have the same issues. And raise them in international formats, such as the European Union. We, Lithuania, have repeatedly asked about the spread of disinformation. By focusing partners, we can achieve better partners. The European Commission is an organization of greater weight and it is easier to talk to Meta.
– Does the European Commission know what is happening, is there information about it?
– As I mentioned, we are still analyzing the reasons and cannot say what is happening. We can see that it is being blocked. The European Commission is aware of the fact of the role, but what is specifically being blocked, what we want to say, to mobilize partners. The fact that we are the only ones talking is not enough ads because the bigger scale gives us more opportunities to influence the decision.