Facebook Foe

I don’t know what Facebook can do to stop the posting of hate crimes and bullying on its website, but one thing it can do is stop with the corporate-speak concerns. “Thoughts and prayers” has become a cliché in this era of random murders and mass killings. Those shallow sentiments are not enough anymore. Solve your problem, Facebook. Maybe it means hiring more monitors. It seems to me that the founders of Facebook thought they were creating a utility, much like the sewers and gas company, and had no responsibility with content.They’re wrong. They’re publishers and have all the responsibilities publishers have. I hadn’t planned to draw this cartoon until I heard Mark Zuckerberg respond to the random shooting of an old man by some deranged lunatic. The video was on Facebook for two hours before somebody at headquarters noticed. Zuckerberg’s response felt cold, lifeless, and, well, corporate.