Social media sites should not be held
liable or expected to monitor and censor media on their site
Argument #1:Censoring media is a violation of freedom of
speech Social media is a way for people to connect from all
across the nation to, from a speech given by Hillary Clinton, " The
internet is a space where activities of all kinds can take place,
from grand, ground-breaking, historic campaigns to the small,
ordinary acts that people engage in every day." this use of the
media is so powerful (Dick)
In academic research done on global internet censorship there has
been a trend that social media companies tasked with censorship and
monitoring where there is legal liability have a strong trend to
play it safe and over-censor, removing content that otherwise would
not be restricted if brought to trial (Mackinnon) Argument #2: Restricting content will not eliminate the
root of the issue Facebook implemented its "hands-off" policy in attempts to
stop the use fake news and false news by lowering their ability to
be shared and seen on feeds. However in the research done by
Facebook this has not lowered the amount of false news and
misleading and biased news that is being posted. (Pohlman)
Argument #3:Censorship of media is linked to higher political
unrest and civil protest After the unrest in Arab Spring in 2011 a social simulation
approach was conducted which showed that the increase in censorship
in media to "regulate" in a time of political upset lead to a
higher level of violence in civil groups which felt they were being
suppressed. (Casilli) Sources:
Casilli, Antonio A., and Paola Tubaro. “Social Media Censorship in Times of Political Unrest - A Social Simulation Experiment with the UK Riots.” Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, vol. 115, no. 1, July 2012, pp. 5–20,doi:10.1177/0759106312445697.
Dick, Archie L. “Established Democracies, Internet Censorship and the Social Media Test.” Information Development, vol. 28, no. 4, Nov. 2012, pp. 259–260, doi:10.1177/0266666912461600. Mackinnon, Rebecca. Stop the Great Firewall of America. 16 Nov. 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html. Accessed 30 Sept. 2019.
Pohlman, Harold L.. Free Speech and Censorship: Examining the Facts, ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/adelphi/detail.action?docID=5755390.