‘Social networks are amplifiers for idiots’

Former Google chief executive officer (CEO) Eric Schmidt has said that social networks are amplifiers for idiots.

According to Bloomberg, he said: “The context of social networks serving as amplifiers for idiots and crazy people is not what we intended.”

The United States (US) government antitrust lawsuit filed against Google on Tuesday was disturbing, and the excesses of social media are likely to result in greater regulation of internet platforms in the coming years, he added.

Schmidt personally controlled YouTube for many years. He then stayed on as Google’s CEO until 2011 and was Alphabet’s executive chairman until early 2018.

Google’s YouTube has tried to decrease the spread of misinformation and lies about COVID-19 and US politics over the last year, with mixed results. Facebook and Twitter have also been under fire in recent years for allowing racist and discriminatory messages to spread online.