Trust, Democracy and Media, and the Evolving Role of Digital Platforms and First Amendment Rights

[Commentary] A few weeks ago, representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter came to town to testify before Congress. But let’s look beyond the narrow scope of those hearings and explore a broader conceptual issue, a massive and thorny topic: the role and responsibility of technology companies that began as platforms and transformed, I believe, into publishers. These are two very different things, with different roles in society. Are they merely platforms and tech companies, or are they publishers with social and legal responsibility for what they publish? That is a central question at the heart of how to use internet for democracy, and it involves technology, evolving attitudes toward First Amendment values, and key questions challenging big tech’s business models.