Zuckerberg vs. Trump in 2020: Who Controls Cyberspace?

"Social media is having a damaging and deleterious effect on the world we live in. Children suffer from cyberbullying, shaming, loneliness and depression. Incitement encourages a culture of hatred and violence. Jihadist terror spreads like wildfire. Feedback loops create polarization. Fake news obscure the truth.

Modern countries spend billions of dollars a year on self-regulation and policing to protect their citizens. Almost all major areas of our public lives: finance, transportation, communication, broadcast, healthcare, and food are regulated. However, the Internet and social media have remained free from government oversite.

Last year, my father, Richard Lakin, was brutally murdered by Jihadist terrorists who had been radicalized on social media. Shortly after the attack, I wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg urging him to take responsibility for curtailing the dangerous phenomena that social media has unleased upon the world. My letter was ignored, as were many others. Facebook and the other folks in Silicon Valley have consistently proven that they are more concerned about the bottom line than the greater good. They talk big about building a perfect and healthy world, while closing their eyes to the spread of evil; generating billions of dollars in profits from the traffic generated by cyberbullying, fake news, hate speech and terrorism. The time has come to intervene..."