SOCIAL MEDIA: Shaping our world
Social Media has become a powerful force which is growing with each person who is picking up a cellphone, using a tablet and/or computer. It has become a focus of modern life, a tool that can help, educate, bring together people, provide communication, and entertain us; but at the same time it can provide disinformation, lead to illegal and immoral groups growing, provide platforms to entertain through hate, opinion,and propaganda.
What is the Role of Social Media?
Is Social Media a service to entertain its users, or is it a Social News Service from the people, groups and companies that use it? Congress held hearings last year asking the CEO's of Facebook, Twitter, and Google, these very questions
. While the answers from the CEO's are hard to decipher, the opinions, of Congress seemed to be divided among party lines. The Republicans seemed to believe that it was a newspaper like entity, where free speech and the first amendment, had to be respected, and that any type of warning label, or removal of messages, are against the First Amendment. The Democrats seemed to see the opposite, that the major Social Media Platforms are individual statements made on a commercial entertainment basis, and thus needed to be regulated and policed, as such.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook summed it up in his opening statement on 28 Oct, 2020 like this per the Washington Post:
“Democrats often say that we don’t remove enough content, and Republicans often say we remove too much,” Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks. “The fact that both sides criticize us doesn’t mean that we’re getting this right, but it does mean there are real disagreements about where the limits of online speech should be.” (1)
What rules should be used for Social Media?
Perhaps the word subscribers is the key to this question. That is one chooses to use Social Media, by becoming a member or subscriber. That Subscriber is expected to follow rules and regulations agreed to by the Social Media Platform, (this is the long legal statement most do not read, and hit the “I agree” button to get their rights to use the service). Thus by becoming members, the rules they agreed to allow the members to see unregulated or regulated content.
A major problem when asking the question “What rules should be used for Social Media?” is perhaps that Social Media Platforms may not have the capability to see every message, post, picture, etc that their users are putting out . Many Social Media Platforms are trying to use computer programs (Artificial Intelligence) to find and detect these violations, which is leading to many of them censoring, or pulling communications in error.
Facebook uses reports from its users, Artificial Intelligence, and teams of employees or contractors to police its service. That is Facebook removes content that breaks its Community Standard Guidelines, but may not remove false information. Instead they take information that is determined to be false and put it lower in their distribution feed. This way the message is allowed, but less viewers see it. One must note that these rules and guidelines are currently changing and evolving on each platform. (2)
What responsibilities and liabilities should Social Media Platforms be held to account for?
Currently Legislation 230 directs Social Media liabilities and responsibilities. This allows them to publish messages, posts, and other forms of communication from individuals without liabilities to their companies. This legislation is trying to be changed by both sides of political parties in Congress. (3)
Social Media if determined to be entertainment may soon have to face the same responsibilities as: Cable, Television, and Cinema do, and face the prospect of rating it's content. If determined to be a news service, it may have to verify the content of its users with sources, and ensure that their statements are validated. Either way Social Media is a growing and evolving force which will continue to shape our daily lives.
SOURCES:
Social Media has become a powerful force which is growing with each person who is picking up a cellphone, using a tablet and/or computer. It has become a focus of modern life, a tool that can help, educate, bring together people, provide communication, and entertain us; but at the same time it can provide disinformation, lead to illegal and immoral groups growing, provide platforms to entertain through hate, opinion,and propaganda.
What is the Role of Social Media?
Is Social Media a service to entertain its users, or is it a Social News Service from the people, groups and companies that use it? Congress held hearings last year asking the CEO's of Facebook, Twitter, and Google, these very questions
. While the answers from the CEO's are hard to decipher, the opinions, of Congress seemed to be divided among party lines. The Republicans seemed to believe that it was a newspaper like entity, where free speech and the first amendment, had to be respected, and that any type of warning label, or removal of messages, are against the First Amendment. The Democrats seemed to see the opposite, that the major Social Media Platforms are individual statements made on a commercial entertainment basis, and thus needed to be regulated and policed, as such.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook summed it up in his opening statement on 28 Oct, 2020 like this per the Washington Post:
“Democrats often say that we don’t remove enough content, and Republicans often say we remove too much,” Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks. “The fact that both sides criticize us doesn’t mean that we’re getting this right, but it does mean there are real disagreements about where the limits of online speech should be.” (1)
What rules should be used for Social Media?
Perhaps the word subscribers is the key to this question. That is one chooses to use Social Media, by becoming a member or subscriber. That Subscriber is expected to follow rules and regulations agreed to by the Social Media Platform, (this is the long legal statement most do not read, and hit the “I agree” button to get their rights to use the service). Thus by becoming members, the rules they agreed to allow the members to see unregulated or regulated content.
A major problem when asking the question “What rules should be used for Social Media?” is perhaps that Social Media Platforms may not have the capability to see every message, post, picture, etc that their users are putting out . Many Social Media Platforms are trying to use computer programs (Artificial Intelligence) to find and detect these violations, which is leading to many of them censoring, or pulling communications in error.
Facebook uses reports from its users, Artificial Intelligence, and teams of employees or contractors to police its service. That is Facebook removes content that breaks its Community Standard Guidelines, but may not remove false information. Instead they take information that is determined to be false and put it lower in their distribution feed. This way the message is allowed, but less viewers see it. One must note that these rules and guidelines are currently changing and evolving on each platform. (2)
What responsibilities and liabilities should Social Media Platforms be held to account for?
Currently Legislation 230 directs Social Media liabilities and responsibilities. This allows them to publish messages, posts, and other forms of communication from individuals without liabilities to their companies. This legislation is trying to be changed by both sides of political parties in Congress. (3)
Social Media if determined to be entertainment may soon have to face the same responsibilities as: Cable, Television, and Cinema do, and face the prospect of rating it's content. If determined to be a news service, it may have to verify the content of its users with sources, and ensure that their statements are validated. Either way Social Media is a growing and evolving force which will continue to shape our daily lives.
SOURCES:
- Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs testify before Senate Commerce Committee - The Washington Post
- Facebook's content review policy: How it works, the teams & tech behind the reviews & the results so far (marketingland.com) https://marketingland.com/facebooks-content-review-policy-how-it-works-the-teams-tech-behind-the-reviews-the-results-so-far-245630
- What is "Section 230," and why do many lawmakers want to repeal it? - CBS News