Home » No comment – the Republic

No comment – the Republic

by admin

“Newspaper editors are responsible for the defamatory comments of users” on social media, Andrea Iannuzzi informs us by referring to an appeal sentence of the Australian Supreme Court and adding an important consideration: “In Italy, jurisprudence has been in agreement for some time in holding the managers of Facebook pages responsible for defamatory comments by users, even if the discriminating factor is given by the fact that they have become aware of the offensive content and have not proceeded to its rapid elimination : therefore, if the comment is immediately deleted by the page administrator, the defamatory hypothesis lapsesAnd”. I am reminded of the – naive – speeches that were made in the newsrooms a decade ago, when newspapers were starting to take seriously the fact of being on the web and they thought of the comments of readers as a wealth that is not could give up.

The idea we had – yes, I was convinced too – is that users with their considerations would have contributed to a useful debate, aimed at mutual understanding of the other’s reasons, perhaps even suggesting changes to the original text to correct errors or even just to improve its effectiveness in a virtuous dialogue with the author of the post. As I write this I realize how naive we were. We soon realized that moderating comments was a time-consuming, time-consuming job, often unsuccessful because comments were anything but constructive. Almost immediately it was clear to us that people preferred to comment on articles on social media and not on newspaper sites and therefore we moved the debate there but this did not level it up. Comments are often just a relief. They are used to release frustrations, malaise, social unease, in some cases genuine bad faith. Too bad because in this way the really useful, indispensable ones are lost. The wealth that arises from comparison with others is nullified.

See also  Reimann: Health education has to be schooled and belongs in all curricula

And let’s get to the point. Just as a newspaper is responsible for the letters it publishes, it cannot fail to monitor the comments posted on the social pages it manages (especially on Facebook). If someone on your personal profile suddenly freaks out, what do you do? You moderate it, silence it, block it, signal it: it depends. But don’t remain inert. It is up to the manager of the page to supervise. But it is up to the platforms to provide us with all the tools to stem those I called a few days ago “Digital vandals”, the serial jammers of online conversations. Instagram was the first to move with the Limits feature; Twitter is experimenting with Satefy Mode. It is a necessary path if we do not want to abolish comments and therefore conversations and transform the network into a place where one communicates and the others shake.

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy