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An internal investigation into Facebook documents revealed what has been described as a “damning” picture of the social media giant’s role in facilitating, facilitating and failing the U.S. Capitol riots on January 6, when supporters backed by Donald Trump have besieged Congress in an attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election, believing that it had been “stolen” in a conspiracy theory against Trump.

Although Facebook denied its role in the matter and subsequently banned Trump from its platform, a whistleblower provided documents to CNN and other news outlets, alleging that the platform had “misled investors and the public about its role in perpetuating disinformation and violent extremism regarding the 2020 election and the January 6 insurgency. ”Facebook has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Facebook’s unprecedented power and unchecked influence over American politics demonstrates and amplifies both the chaotic and destabilizing aspects of bourgeois American democracy, promulgating unrest, violence and disinformation and undermining the legitimacy and credibility of the system as a whole.

The Trump-led insurgency was not flash in the pan but a warning about how social media giants are creating a more divided, uncertain and dysfunctional country.

The United States likes to make “freedom” of speech and “freedom” of the press their core values, but these are always easier said than done. In practice, these two principles are rather a question of “who speaks” and “who has the capacity to be heard”, offering no guarantee of truth, equality or justice for that matter.

In the United States, there is also the “freedom” to deceive and lie, as well as the “freedom” to manipulate. Such freedoms are not a guarantee of individual rights. On the contrary, they are inherently dangerous tools.

This has never been more the case than in the age of social media, which changed the reach of the world by giving people the ability to influence millions of others. These runaway and unchecked online platforms have fueled an increasingly polarized political debate in US-led Western countries due to their ability to inject the public with fear, division, resentment, and a obscure picture of the world.

And when social media moguls fashion algorithms to conform to people’s views, preferences, and interests, truth and objectivity become more jaded. As a result, many platforms such as Facebook have become a Trojan horse for malicious opinions, turmoil and ultimate political chaos, straining the US constitution itself. The January 6 riot was the culmination of years of disinformation networks in the United States.

China has few such problems. Why? Because in a system of popular democracy, social media is regulated and kept within the limits of the law. Critics say such a system undermines “freedom” of speech and “freedom” of the press, but in reality it creates a stable, prosperous and orderly society that prevents this kind of political dysfunction from occurring.

Some Westerners claim that Chinese democracy is under “surveillance” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is true that China is ruled by the CCP, but that does not mean any harm to democracy and freedom. These Westerners are blind to the fact that Chinese democracy places the interests of the people above those of the Big Techs who pursue monopolistic and selfish behavior in an attempt to profit from the political division and disarray of society as a whole.

Chinese democracy is a type of full-process democracy, which means that it goes through all processes, including elections, decision-making, management and supervision. It is not an empty slogan like in the United States. Unlike the United States where Big Techs profit at the expense of ordinary Americans, popular opinion in China is collected and fully respected in government decisions. China puts people, not consortia, above all else.

The United States can complain about Facebook, but it has very few tools and means to properly regulate it and control its behavior. The political chaos that has shaped the American landscape illustrates how American democracy is unsuited to a digitally connected world, where the rule of law is degraded by crowd domination.

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