Hi everyone, as the title suggests, we will put social media on trial during our presentation this week. We would like to explore the arguments for and against imposing regulations on these platforms as well as potential regulatory solutions. The issues to be covered include:
1. Are social media addictive and harmful just like cigarettes are? If so, to what extent should regulators discourage its consumption?
2. Are social media harming the mental health of their users, especially children, by making available supercharged tools of bullying?
3. Should constitutional freedom of speech apply to private social media companies that drive public conversation and debate? Who should decide which content to censor?
4. On the other hand, do social media platforms have a duty to vet content for misinformation such as dangerous conspiracy theory? Who should bear the burden of vetting content?
5. Are social media companies neutral platforms or are they publishers responsible for their content? Do they want it both ways depending on the situation? Should they have it both ways?
Please watch the two short videos linked below before class on Tuesday. The longer video on anxiety is optional, but we strongly recommend it because it is fascinating in a disturbing way.
Thank you,
Chris, Desmond, Jordan, Kevin, Tom
“FACEBOOK IS THE NEW CIGARETTES.”
https://youtu.be/tMcWD82LRbw
Should a ‘content congress’ regulate social media?
Social Media is Giving Kids Anxiety
I didn’t get to spend much time in class talking about Facebook trying to play both sides of the publisher/platform debate, so I wanted to post a link to this article, which does a pretty good job of explaining the issue in a bit more detail: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/02/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-platform-publisher-lawsuit