Social Media Regulation: Do We Need It?

According to The Guardian, 49% of the public support the idea of having regulated news feeds, search engine results, advertising based on political affiliation or political viewpoints on social media platforms. The other 51% oppose this idea and believe that there should not be this type of control.

I believe that some sort of regulation would be beneficial to everyone who uses social media. This would begin to create more trust in the news we get online and decrease reckless behaviors, if not eliminate it all.

Now should that regulation lay in the government's hands?

My Thoughts

An interesting article from Digital Trends states that the government shouldn’t completely control social media but the big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter should.

The New York University Stern Center of Businesses and Human Rights suggested this option based on their research. They found that moderation from the social media companies themselves, with limited government involvement, would be a successful way to still regulate what is put out on social media.

Big companies like these have already made progress in trying to stop harmful content such as Twitter booting hate groups and YouTube adding additional human review staff and expanding algorithms.

The spread of misinformation on social media is nothing new, especially in politics. “The top 20 fake news reports on Facebook during the 2016 election had more engagement than the same number of stories from major news outlets” says Craig Silverman from BuzzFeed News.

Fake news must stop, and after reading the Digital Trends article and the New York University Stern Center of Business and Human Rights suggestion, I would have to say I like their idea.

Turning everything over to the government interferes with one of social media's benefits, freedom of expression. If the government had control over everyone’s social media I feel as if people wouldn’t feel as comfortable expressing themselves as they do now, let alone have the chance to.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean I agree with people who are negative, reckless, create hate speech and fake news on social media. I think those kinds of things should have regulation. But for the people who simply use social media for a fun outlet, I don’t think their freedom of expression should be limited because of other people’s poor choices.

With that being said, I think that the government shouldn’t have to all the power but the big companies themselves should take more steps to stop hate speech and fake news we see constantly.

As the article Digital Trends states, “Social networks should enhance their own governance, continue to refine the algorithms, use more warnings and notifications for suspicious content, and adjust advertising.”

I think these simple yet effective steps would go a long way in changing all the negative things we see on social media.

Does This Affect Me Personally?

This issue does affect me personally because I do post a lot on social media about my life and hobbies. Who knows what the government could end up regulating. They could potentially take away some of my freedom of expression.

I would feel more confident in the information I receive from social media sites if the companies themselves took steps to help us understand better what is fake and what is real.

Sending out warnings of misinformation and fake accounts, eliminating accounts that put out fake news and reckless things, or even continuing to refine algorithms, are all ways companies can take steps into helping their consumers feel more confident in the information they are receiving.