Mark Zuckerberg

The US's billionaires have amassed democracy-distorting concentrations of wealth and power as millions have been thrown into poverty.

The corporate assault on democracy hasn't been as violent as the pro-Trump mob who stormed the Capitol. And it's entirely legal. But it's arguably more damaging over the long term.

The proliferation of divisive and hateful content is baked into Facebook’s business model: The platform profits from finely targeting ads to users who are most likely to respond to them.

Facebook has tools that gather ready audiences for voter disinformation and conspiracy theories, and it uses algorithms that seem designed intentionally to amplify and spread divisive messages, regardless of their accuracy.

The objective is to force Facebook to alter its hate speech definition so that its own "detection algorithm" will characterize any criticism of Israel as hate speech and automatically remove the pertinent content from the platform.

Will we enable billionaires to further concentrate wealth and power during a pandemic, or will we tax their gains to improve the health and welfare of our country?

In our greatest moment of crisis, some of the most imaginative minds on the planet could become our heroes.

If Mark Zuckerberg truly believes in giving everyone a voice, the company must integrate a power, race, and social analysis into its policies and their enforcement.