In a recent effort to address potential anti-conservative bias and foreign influence on major social platforms, Facebook and Twitter, the two companies most senior executives were called to a series of hearings in front of a Senate committee. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appeared to address these concerns and the countermeasures their respective social media companies are currently taking. Twitter, Facebook testify on foreign influence and anti-conservative bias

The Senate Intelligence committee's hearing on election interference on social media today quickly turned into unconventional political theater https://t.co/RMtRUrkeH9

— POLITICO (@politico) September 5, 2018

Whether one agrees or disagrees that social media platforms are being misused and how this will affect users. What stands out to me is, as we begin to develop countermeasures, as a society that constantly uses platforms like Facebook and Twitter, we need to have an agreement on what exactly is the definition of authentic content. Furthermore, how can we remove politics from the development of a widely accepted definition of authentic content? I think that the real answer is just in basic education of users to understand and know that what they are reading or seeing is not an authentic piece of content. As we can see with the appearance of radicals from both sides appearing at the hearing politics is too interwoven in just simply trying to develop basic understanding of what authenticity and this halts the educational process.

We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.

— jack (@jack) March 1, 2018

I believe that both Sandberg and Dorsey are smart enough to understand that simply educating the public to better see and use their respective platforms is the ultimate goal.