Some remember Nick Clegg as a gamechanging politician when he became Deputy Prime Minister in a Coalition government. Some might remember that in 2011 he called out post bail out bankers awarding themselves massive bonuses as "living in a parallel universe". Yet on Friday evening, speaking at the Chiswick Book Festival, it was Mr Clegg who seemed to be speaking from a parallel universe.  He did not see any compelling evidence that social media might be harming children and young people or that any major changes or reforms were needed.  Neither did he express concern that Meta's choice not to apply the same controls and moderation levels used in the US to countries like Ethiopia and Myanmar might have contributed to widespread violence and loss of life through viral hate speech and incitement. He expressed little concern about the allegations of violation of copyright of musicians and other creators by social media giants including Meta.  He stated he had not read the book "Careless People" which described practices in Facebook/Meta just before he started there. There was no reference to the recent massive payouts made by Meta to settle lawsuits.  On the following evening, many of us were able to attend a talk by the campaigner Beeban Kidron about how to take on Big Tech. It was a powerful reality check and for those of us who worry about these issues, a sign of hope that things are starting to change.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Nick Clegg's parallel universe	13/09/26 23:38:00	Jackie Elton
Re:Nick Clegg's parallel universe	14/09/26 01:29:00	Andrew Jones
Re:Re:Nick Clegg's parallel universe	14/09/26 06:11:00	Nicholas Beard
Re:Re:Re:Nick Clegg's parallel universe	14/09/26 08:12:00	Jackie Elton

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