Forum Topic

Nick Clegg's parallel universe

Some remember Nick Clegg as a gamechanging politician when he became Deputy Prime Minister in a Coalition government. Some might remember that in 2011 he called out post bail out bankers awarding themselves massive bonuses as "living in a parallel universe". Yet on Friday evening, speaking at the Chiswick Book Festival, it was Mr Clegg who seemed to be speaking from a parallel universe.  He did not see any compelling evidence that social media might be harming children and young people or that any major changes or reforms were needed.  Neither did he express concern that Meta's choice not to apply the same controls and moderation levels used in the US to countries like Ethiopia and Myanmar might have contributed to widespread violence and loss of life through viral hate speech and incitement. He expressed little concern about the allegations of violation of copyright of musicians and other creators by social media giants including Meta.  He stated he had not read the book "Careless People" which described practices in Facebook/Meta just before he started there. There was no reference to the recent massive payouts made by Meta to settle lawsuits.  On the following evening, many of us were able to attend a talk by the campaigner Beeban Kidron about how to take on Big Tech. It was a powerful reality check and for those of us who worry about these issues, a sign of hope that things are starting to change. 

Jackie Elton ● 9d8 Comments

A lot of people are prepared to compromise their principles if the price is high enough. In my opinion sounds like Nick Clegg has gone that way.

Andrew Jones ● 9d

Spot on Andrew.

Nicholas Beard ● 9d

Alternatively having lived in the Meta world, he  believes it, as long as he doesn’t allow himself to read or listen to material or people challenging those perceptions. How long can that go on?

Jackie Elton ● 9d

The removal of protections and the amplification of rage that has been enable during Trump's second term is indefensible other than to say that Zuckerberg is ultimately responsible to his shareholders. Nick Clegg must recognises that but an very tight NDA probably prevents him addressing the issue.Meanwhile, the social benefits of Facebook become reduced as its social harms increase. It is unavoidable to occasionally have to dip into it and its seems to me to get worse every time. I hate to imagine what is going on in the non public Facebook Groups - the public ones seem increasingly dominated by people with extreme opinions which go unchallenged. We'd really all be much better off without it.

Francis Rowe ● 8d

To quote Upton Sinclair from the 1930s "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

Michael Robinson ● 8d

Very much agree with the points made here. Nick Clegg became an apologist for something that is clearly doing great harm to our society. The tide is turning though with thumping great legal judgements in the States against the social media companies and sensible restrictions being introduced in this and other countries. If and when the US gets a government that is interested in the wellbeing of its people the dam will really burst on tackling this problem. One step that could be taken now is that the government stops using Facebook for ads. There is much doubt about their effectiveness and withdrawal of government spending from news media has been catastrophic. They have stopped spending with Twitter so they could do the same with Facebook - they spent around £19mn of our money with them last year.

Felicity Caborn ● 8d

It is worrying what this says about the health of our democracy. When Clegg jointly led the Country, what was his focus? The interest of all UK citizens or his next lucrative role. His estimated net worth now, earned at Meta, is 25 to 35 million. Not bad for someone who worked as a journalist before becoming a career politician.You can't look in two directions at once. Either you have the public interest at heart or your own advancement and accumulating wealth. Ex PMs used to remain in Parliament. Clearly although no longer officially employed by Meta, he remains loyal to them. Where is his loyalty to the country he once led?It has become a pattern. Seek senior office, serve, but whose interests. Leave politics when defeated and take lucrative roles abroad, usually in the US.

Kathleen Healy ● 8d

To be fair to Nick Clegg he did stand in the 2015 General Election when the Conservatives won a majority and he continued to be one of the few remaining Lib Dem MPs until the 2017 election when he lost his seat.So he carried on in politics for a couple of years before accepting the Meta shilling in 2018.

Andrew Jones ● 7d