if the government gets involved in this,then these companies will have to fall under the rule of the Federal Communication Comission (FCC),which was started to regulate medias that the masses use to communicate with each,such as TV,and radio.
social media sites are really no different than those are,and should DEFINITELY be regulated in the same way,since they have the ability to cause great harm to the country,and its citizens if they are used incorrectly...
all you have to do is look at the way that facebook was misused during the last election cycle to realize that,since it almost brought our election system to its knees since there was no regulation to keep it from being hijacked by foreign countries to manipulate our elections,and all of the REAL 'fake news' that it gives to people who just assume that the 'news' stories they are reading are genuine,since they are so used to the FCC having oversight over all media to prevent the spread of false stories from happening on a large scale.
so,YES,due to the fact that there are now sites that have even more reach than TV,and radio does,i believe that LARGE social media sites like FB MUST be regulated,for the common good of the country,for which there is already a great precedent in existence,even if you DO happen to think of it as 'censorship',instead of 'public safety'.
Facebook is to blame for it, by allowing third party apps access to their user data once a user download such-and-such app that linked to Facebook.
In other words, users voluntarily gave up their information to third parties by simply installing an app.
Facebook for it's part, shut off that spigot (or so they claim).
that's why I don't use facebook,because I already KNOW what these sites are capable of doing!
and,if they are capable of doing it,then you can pretty much be guaranteed that,without regulations telling them that they CANT do it, they WILL do it!
but,MOST people don't take the time to read all of the fine print,and don't understand what it all means,so they are willing to trade off something that they don't see the value in,or think is as important as it actually is for the 'privilege' of using a site that is DESIGNED to harvest personal information that it can use against people while they are engaging in what they think are 'innocent social activities'
but,all you have to do is realize that if the things that you are freely giving away to them didn't have any value,then why would these huge companies be running these 'free' sites,and making BILLIONS of dollars of profits off of them.
