Without doubt social media is the most dangerous weapon on the planet. It spreads misinformation as fact, it allows terrorists to communicate, it impacts elections and it probably produces other equally bad content. Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and others have all been called before Congress to explain their role on various topics like vaccine fake news, election interference, the spread of pornography, assault and property damage in school settings. Unfortunately many impressionable and unstable minds are receptive to these kinds of “information. Technology and governmental oversight are unable to keep up with this evolution of process. It is impossible to stop messages from appearing on social media before they can cause harm. Even our former president has been banned from his Twitter account because of his fake information spread. We have a suggestion. To preserve the communication value of social media, all social media networks need to be limited as to their network members. For example, no more than 200 members per network. Second these networks will be routinely “audited” for specific words or word combinations (an algorithm). If wording appears to violate the public good, it should be investigated by the Federal Communication Commission. Offensive, illegal and other improper use will result in the disbanding of the network by the Social Media Platform (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). Each network is charged with self-policing. If any member of a network sees inappropriate use taking place, that member has the duty to report it to a network coordinator (an appointed member of each network). The network can save itself by serious and timely self-policing. In this way the Social Media platform can still present ads that generate its income on each network. While this may seem to be cumbersome and difficult to manage it is actually the only way to continue the positive aspects of wide-spread communication and minimize the aspects of wide-spread misinformation or even damaging information. Yes, the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech) is seriously challenged but no more than telling people “you can’t yell ‘FIRE’ in a crowded theater”. Social media is the “crowded theater” in today’s world.
Comments are closed