Day 45 Social media regulations

Social media regulations

The word ‘media’ is explained in the oxford dictionary as ‘The main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively’. Therefore, the social media technology on the Internet that enables us to communicate information, ideas or opinions to the public turns us to become a self based media. These platforms allow us to share other people’s knowledge and experience through twitters, blogs and mini-blogs. However, it is nearly impossible for us to verify the genuineness of this information. In 2014, Chinese government applied a new legislation, which complemented the definition of crime of defamation. It states if the libel information was viewed over 5,000 times or reblogged over 500 times, then the original spreader of that information would commit the crime of defamation. In addition,  a boy in US was arrested due to his silly tweet about attacking a nearby prime school. 

Interestingly, there are two exact opposite opinion within the society for these regulations. Many people are very upset, because they see this as a step-back of freedom of speech. They contended that people should have absolutely no restriction on the information. Since the idea of the Internet is based on sharing, people should not be charged for their comments. They also argued that the Internet is the last sanctuary for this freedom, due to the traditional media is controlled by the government. Therefore, only the Internet will provide the truth they deserve to know. They believed these actions taken by the government shows that it is sacred for the internet revealing those ‘ dirty secrets’ . And this opinion is promoted by the wikileaks incident, certainly, people will never know these scandals without the Internet.

On the other hand, there are supporters of the regulation implemented over the social media network. The Internet is a complex place, it combines the most bright and positive ideas with the most coarse and negative opinions. People share their joys and cherishment through their self-media channel. But unfortunately, there are people who misuse the platform to commit fraud or simply vent their anger in the real life. Since the identity is concealed on the Internet, people tend to wreak vengeance on all their unhappiness. The supporter of the regulation claims that the policy creates a potential cost for people acting recklessly and provides unfaithful information, Hence they would consider the consequences for their behavior, which generates incentives for them to choose to provide positive energy to the society.

In my opinion, it is a good thing for the social media have some form of rules. Because too much freedom at nil cost will only bring chaos. However, it does not mean the government can abuse its power over the Internet. Overused regulation is the violation of the right for people to speech freely.