Thanks to the revolutions happening in the Middle East, our leaders have been touting social media as the new force for democracy. President Obama went out of his way to schmooze Facebook employees this week. He told them that when it comes to solving the challenges our country faces and to precipitating changes in the rest of the world, they were ?at the cutting edge of what?s happening?. It?s great that Silicon Valley is getting all this love and affection. But could this attention end up killing the golden goose? Think about it: if you are an evil dictator, looking for an excuse to block Facebook and Twitter, what better propaganda weapon than a picture of President Obama getting chummy with Mark Zuckerberg? Yes, I know that the U.S. government didn?t invent Facebook or even figure out how to use it until recently; and that it doesn?t control Facebook?s policies. But don?t those pictures and video clips tell a different story?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yt3lRId6i9Y/
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