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Hillary Clinton: We Need New Laws to Regulate Social Media Companies

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is jumping back into the political fray and calling for new laws to regulate social media companies.

During a softball interview Tuesday on MSNBC, Clinton told host Rachel Maddow that technology has gotten ahead of the law.

Social media has become a hot-button issue, especially in politics. Clinton jumping into this topic is another indication that she is trying to remain relevant.

She went on to argue that social media giants are wielding power and have a global reach.

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“First we have to take necessary legislative and regulatory action to begin to regulate the way that our social media and tech companies operate. You know, we had to have new rules for the industrial age at the beginning of the last century,” Clinton said.

“Well, we certainly need new rules for the information age because our current laws, our framework is just not adequate for what we’re facing. There are a number of very good ideas about how to both apply existing laws and to fill the gaps that exist so that we can begin to try to rein in some of the abuses of the technology companies, particularly the social media companies,” she added.

Clinton went on to smear the United States as having a history of violence and demagoguery and claimed that technology makes the American electorate more vulnerable to manipulation.

“But because of the way we are getting our information today and because of the lack of gatekeepers and people who have a historic perspective, who can help us understand what we are seeing, there is a real vulnerability in the electorate to the kind of demagoguery and disinformation that unfortunately the other side is really good at exploiting,” she continued.

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“But what we’ve seen, sadly, in the last several years, is not new in our history because it is rooted in the struggles that we’ve had going back to before our beginning, but it is, unfortunately, turbo-charged by the combination of demagogues, social media that is more interested, frankly, in profitability than the rule of law or unity, that feeds disinformation in a way that strips people to the core of their insecurities and their fears,” Clinton said.

“So, it’s not new in any way, but the way it’s being implemented is new and it’s really hard to escape. So the problem that we face is an old problem, but with a new twist because of technology,” Clinton added.

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She concluded: “And I think we are really on the precipice, Rachel, of seeing people, particularly in the Republican Party, but not only there, who truly just want power, power to impose their views, power to exploit financial advantage, power to implement a religious point of view. We see all of that converging.”

Clinton’s been inching her way back into the political spotlight.

During an interview last month on Good Morning America, Clinton declared that she will never leave politics because she feels that “democracy is at stake.”

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“I will never be out of the game of politics,” Clinton said.

“I’m not going to be running for anything but I really feel like our democracy’s at stake for many reasons … some of them we saw on the screen with the insurrection, some of them are about Facebook that creates a world of disinformation instead of one we can agree on what the facts are. I really am worried,” she added.

“I do worry that we face a lot of really serious problems that don’t get the attention they deserve,” Clinton said.

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