In an interview, the economist Joseph Stiglitz criticizes the role of platforms such as Facebook and X when spreading false information.
Who is the Nobel Prize winner? Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist and was the World Bank and business advisor to former US President Bill Clinton until 2000. In his works, he deals with the dark sides, but also the chances of globalization.
In 2001 Stiglitz was awarded the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics. In an interview with El Mundo, he warns of an emerging oligarchy in the United States and criticizes the role of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg in spreading disinformation.
Stiglitz sees a tool for mass manipulation in social media. For others it is a source of income:
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Musk and Zuckerberg want to control the information
Stiglitz accuses Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg to want to control the information economy. They would have more wealth than the super -rich of the past and better tools to influence society – and that is exactly what they would do in a dangerous way.
The economist believes that Musk and Zuckerberg have recognized that there was no truth. You could earn more money to spread disinformation, so you would do that. He accuses the Tech billionaire a lack of moral values.
. Musk and Zuckerberg, like Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, admitted that there is no such thing as truth. You say that you will not moderate content and if you can earn more money, you will do it. You can earn more money by spreading misinformation about vaccines, and they do that too. You have no moral values and have more propaganda.
At the same time, they would have effective means for propaganda with their platforms Facebook and X: “They have all the knowledge of psychology and behavioral economy, and all the tools of artificial intelligent,” said Stiglitz.
This would have more propaganda tools than communist or National Socialist regimes.
Facebook abolish facts check in the USA
What does Facebook say about it? On Facebook it says on the subject of facts: You are committed to the spread of misinformation and would work together in many countries with external facts.
In January 2025, however, Facebook announced that this system was hiring this system. Instead, you want to switch to a community-based program, which will also be extended to other countries in the future.
However, experts fear that this system will be available in the future as a whole. You can find more information on this on ZDF.
What about X? On X you indicate that you want to create an informed world, but at the same time it also says that you only want to intervene in the extreme case and prefer to provide users additional context. However, since the statement is still talking about “Twitter”, it should be an older post.
In a post from January 2025, the focus is on “authenticity”: you do not allow activity to manipulate or disrupt which attempts, the platform or its services are manipulated or disrupted by unautthical accounts, behavior or content (via x).
So if possible, the platforms want to keep out of the content. Stiglitz on the other hand is an advocate for more regulation on social networks. After all, there are strict standards and a kind of social responsibility in other forms of the media. “The only law for social networks is that you can house any garbage,” said the economist.