Social Media and Government Regulations Essay Example

Social media has transformed the way persons connect. As the use of digital platforms escalates, administrations are trying to increase monitoring of data and regulating users and what they share online. Many individuals post their personal information and disclose data in these online channels. Cyberbullies and criminals can collect this data discreetly and use it in blackmailing the victims or in committing fraudulent activities. Other instances show that public network promotes extremism because it offers a free channel to support radicalization and violence. The administration is under pressure to contain online crime and regulate digital platforms. The paper gives brief information about public network usage, its importance and the role of government in monitoring public network and its negative impacts through surveillance and content censorship. The paper looks at government regulations concerning certain aspects of public networking and how this affects freedom of expression and privacy.

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Today, our community is affected by advancements in technology. The technological advancements affect every individual globally. Among those prevalent advancements in technology are the invention of the internet and its mass usage. The internet has enormous amounts of information that concerns every aspect of our lives that span of social networking, entertainment, world security, education, politics, to business. The use of online platforms has created a network society. Different public network platforms integrate into a network that bundles online and off-line channels of communication (Korolava 35). Social media is the use of digital technologies to connect individuals and organizations in sharing data.

The public network has enhanced the quality of life by improving the level of communication between different parties. The extensive use of digital platforms has also heightened criminal activities committed online. The vices range from cyberbullying, privacy breaching and identity theft. Such problems have pushed administrations to create cybersecurity departments that are meant to combat crime. Some scholars have shown that numerous adverse effects emerge in public network use.

Some show media websites have breached the privacy of individuals, especially where there are micro-targeted adverts (Korolava 28). The malware gets used by developers who have gone rogue. Malware is easily spread from one victim to another and installed in PCs when one opens messages or even emails. Business marketing on digital platforms has seen an increased business activity. However, criminals have found a way to steal data and manipulate data only to pass it as their own. Copyrights get infringed on frequently. Since there are no effective monitoring methods to protect copyrights, amateurs have been able to live on other people's effort. Strict measures should be put in place by the administration so that the digital platforms can come up with solutions to guard their platforms.

Easy accessibility of public network platforms poses a significant challenge to age regulation. Children process mobile phones that can access the Internet. Underage kids join public networks and get exposed to dangers of older prying eyes of perverts and pedophiles. Social media can be a good source of knowledge for young kids to learn and acquire knowledge. But the same can be a source of wrong knowledge that can corrupt the minds of the kids. The social community should come together with the administration and play a role in regulating the use of social platforms by underage kids. Because of its addictive nature, kids may underperform or even withdraw themselves from their surroundings.

As much as the government agencies are trying to engage the public through digital platforms, they should try to set policies and regulations that can protect the children from falling victims of the downside of public network usage. Public network content should, therefore, get censored for underage kids. Surveillance for pedophiles should be done to protect young children online. The administration should play a role in teaching guardians to use censored proxies so that young children do not get exposed to explicit content.

In a contemporary setting, a few individuals have complained about their freedom of privacy getting breached. Their privacy has got exposed to others in their crucial data leaked to the public (Korolava 36). Some platforms do not have any measures to prevent collecting of profile data. Malicious users can collect data without any deterrence. Some public network platforms allow external applications to collect user data which is meant to tailor them with targeted adverts. Unfortunately, the third parties are used by criminals who collect data such as passwords only to hack messages in these digital platforms and post them in public without asking for the victim's consent.

The developers of digital platforms should use measures that prevent impersonation and identity theft. The administration should have a role in heightening securities of users by imposing policies that regulate different social websites so that loopholes and public network security can be sealed. The administration should help in maintaining ethical standards and ensuring that the use of public network gets done within the stipulated regulations. The administration should find a way of minimizing exploitation of data by social media networks in that data collected from individuals is deleted automatically and cannot be shared with third parties.

For some time, extremism has been promoted through public network channels. The smooth and free way to share data via a public network has made it easy for radicalization to take place. Terrorism has managed to thrive with the use of the public network. A terrorist can be able to send data and manipulate citizens causing tension and creating disunity (Wihbey, 94). Because of radicalization, religious tension and rivalry have emerged. Terrorist also use social media networks to plan their attacks. The administration should also ensure system upgrades to improve public network systems. The dangerous ideologies that can disturb peace should get eliminated. Policies that bring to the law criminals who threaten the peace of others should get put in place. The administration is supposed to create awareness that those responsible for promoting hate speech and radicalization or extremism will face the penalties of the law.

Conclusion

All in all, the network of social media has helped in shaping society through dissemination of data. Individual parties and organizations can straightforwardly share data. The use of digital platforms in socializing can be a bittersweet matter. Sadly, scholarly articles have shown that public networks can get exploited by criminals whose aim is to breach the privacy of others and commit a crime. Many users are often naive and cannot protect their privacy online. The positive and negative effects on public network usage meet halfway hence the responsibility of using it is left to users. It is therefore extremely significant for the administration to regulate public network usage while upholding set ethical standards, especially the kind of data getting shared over the public network platform. In this way, the administration can help in solving challenges that emerge due to the exploitation of data by criminals who use public network platforms.

Works Cited

Korolova.A. Privacy violation using micro-targeted ads: a case study. Journal of privacy and confidentiality, 3 No; 1, 2011, pp. 27-49.

Wihbey.J. Social and news media, violent extremisms, ISIS and online speech: aresearch review. 2015, pp. 92-97