Policy

Fight the Spread of Hateful Ideas

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The internet and social media have made it much easier to spread hateful ideas and ideologies. Dark corners of the web like 4chan and 8chan regularly see vile ideas shared and laughed at, and mass shooters frequently post their manifestos to these sites. They also see commentary that cheers the shooters along and encourages others to commit violence. Social media services also see violent videos shared, such as when the New Zealand mass murder was streamed on Facebook.

The government should work with social media companies to combat the spread of violent content online, especially that which depicts actual incidences of violence or call for specific acts of violence.

Beyond this, we need to do more to get people out of their online bubbles and into local communities. We should investigate the impact of social media on our children and come up with guidelines on how much exposure is acceptable. All high school seniors should spend time traveling to a different part of the country to get exposed to different cultures.

Problems to be Solved

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    The reach and power of information technology has made it easy to find and promote acts of violence.
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    There is little regulation of social media content that shares and promotes acts of terror.
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    People, especially our children, spend more and more time on digital platforms instead of in our real-world communities.
  • We need to be very careful not to infringe on the First Amendment rights of individuals as we work to minimize the spread of incitements to violence on social media channels and websites.

Goals

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    Limit the promotion of violence and terror online
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    Get ourselves and our children more involved with the offline world

As President I will...

  • Work with social media and hosting companies to minimize the spread of incitements to violence, while respecting First Amendment rights.
  • Implement the American Exchange Program to allow all high school students to experience different areas of the country and form friendships with a diverse group of Americans.