(Sign up for CNBC Pro to watch the full interview with Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio.)
The United States government should consider regulating social media algorithms that drive “what we as consumers see and read every day,” said Jeff Lawson, CEO of Twilio, in an interview with CNBC.
Twilio has been one of several major US tech companies that have cracked down on removing content and apps that promote violence after the turmoil in the U.S. capital last week. Lawson confirmed on Tuesday that Twilio told conservative social media app Parler that he was “violating our terms of service”, prompting Parler to end his integration with Twilio.
“I think our government leaders should seek to understand the role of algorithmic systems in driving what we as consumers see and read every day, because I think this is an unfamiliar territory for how technology is affecting individuals down to the social level. “Lawson told CNBC’s” A View from the Top “program.
“Government officials should try to understand how algorithms work and what they optimize for and what is the social impact of that? Because this is the biggest externality you see today in some of the technologies that society has not yet figured out what to do with them . And I think the impacts of that are very broad. “
Amazon Web Services, Zendesk and Okta have joined Twilio to extract their services from Parler in the past few days. In the past few days, there has been a significant shift between technology companies, removing the speech that envisions violence, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s permanent Twitter ban. Still, future government intervention, regulation or potential Congressional laws on how to police hate speech and misinformation will need to be resolved under President-elect Joe Biden’s government, which begins next week.
Lawson publicly supported Biden and donated to his presidential campaign to defeat Donald Trump. He told CNBC that Biden’s attention to science and politics, and far from tribalism, will be a welcome change for the United States.
Lawson rejected the notion that certain technology companies would begin to accept customers based on the policy.
“What we are talking about here is hate speech and murder threats,” Lawson said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “This is not a normal public speech that we are used to in our society. This is a secondary thing. What we are trying to say is that the vast minority of people who have been involved in marginal conversations about hate speech, murder and overthrowing governments is not allowed. I’m sure most rational people would agree that this type of content, most of which is illegal, should not be part of conventional services. “
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