“Social Media Logos” by “BrickinNick” licensed under CC BY-NC2.0
Introduction
With the development of civilization in the world, and the rapid progress of technology. The Internet has become an indispensable part of human life. From daily communication, shopping, news reporting and social activities. The Internet and social media are very important tools. However, in the rapidly developing Internet environment, more and more problems have emerged. Due to the lack of supervision of social media platforms and the lack of government regulations, the Internet has not only provided convenience for people’s daily life but also become a platform for unscrupulous people to communicate and trade. On social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, content about guns, drugs, and pornography often appear. In addition to the undesirable content posted on the Internet, there are also many cases of drug and gun dealing through the Internet. Who is responsible for regulating the spread of bad information on the Internet, and how can we better stop the spread of this vicious content on the Internet? In the following section, we will analyze this issue from three perspectives: social platform developers, government agencies, and Internet users.
Responsibilities of social platform developers
Social platform developers should play a primary role in regulating malicious information on the Internet. With the rapid development of the Internet, more and more applications are being used by people. An endless number of social platforms play different roles. There are platforms like Twitter, and Facebook for sharing information. There are WeChat and Whatsapp, which are platforms to communicate with others. There are also Google and Yahoo search engines for people to use. But in these various social platforms, the spread of bad information is not a few. According to a survey of U.S. adults, 64% of Americans say social media has had a significant negative impact on the development of society and human life today. The majority of the population suggested that they typically see a lot of hateful and harassing content on social media. A majority also suggested that misinformation and fictional news on the Internet can be extremely misleading to people who lack critical thinking skills. According to what has been explained above, it is clear that the malicious information on the Internet has to some extent had a very serious impact on people’s lives. In this case, the social platform should manage malicious information on the Internet as the primary class. First, it is extremely important to remove and restrict malicious information. In the content posted by users, the deletion of content containing malicious behaviour, or restricting the browsing population of this content can reduce the spread of undesirable content on the Internet to a certain extent. First, it is extremely important to remove and restrict malicious information. In the content posted by users, the deletion of content containing malicious behaviour, or restricting the browsing population of this content can reduce the spread of undesirable content on the Internet to a certain extent. Facebook can provide a good example for other social media companies in terms of regulation. For instance, in 2020, Facebook published a “White Book” which is mainly about the regulation on Facebook. It includes the company will delete the hate speech content after the user or government reports and limiting the research content of that topic. The social media company must take responsibility for regulating the negative content on social media platforms and stop the spreading of that information.
Responsibilities of National Government
Besides the digital media company, the national government also should take responsibility for regulating the digital media platform and stopping the spread of problematic information on the internet. Due to the global and widespread nature of the Internet, each country has its policies and regulations regarding the Internet. The global and widespread nature of the Internet allows people from all over the world to communicate on one platform. However, undesirable content on the Internet and cultural differences between countries can lead to significant problems. For national governments, the establishment of laws and regulations to combat objectionable content on the Internet can have a significant impact. For example, the state could regulate social media companies to track information about platform users, and where users post content like violence, guns or other nefarious content, the government or other regulators could get hold of user information and take certain punitive measures against offending users. Secondly, the government and other relevant bodies should regulate and set regulations on social media companies, for example, setting the age of people using the platform to avoid young people being misled also specific pushing of content on the platform. For instance, many countries have already established legislation regarding problematic content posted on the internet. In Germany, a NetzDg law was commencement in 2018, which is used to regulate social media companies that have over 2,000,000 users. The law is claimed that the content that is reported as illegal should be deleted in 24 hours, otherwise the media platform could be punished maximum of 5 million Euros. Besides, Australia passed an act in 2019 called the “Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act”, which includes criminal penalties will be imposed on social media companies that break the law, and company executives could be sentenced to up to three years in prison and fined 10% of the company’s global turnover. The national government must establish a bill for regulating social media platforms. The harsh punishment that the government made will lead social media to behave more effectively in the stoping of the spread problematic content on the internet.
Responsibilities of Internet Users
In addition to the role of social media companies and national governments in regulating the internet, users of the internet should also take responsibility for regulating the spread of malicious content on the internet. In today’s social environment, the internet is an extremely important part of human life. As users of the internet, it is important to regulate what you say on social media platforms and to avoid posting content that is discriminatory, violent or pornographic. They should also refuse to disseminate undesirable or misleading information. When you find similar content, report such undesirable information to avoid the widespread dissemination of information therein. As all know the internet is a platform that allowed the free expression of own’s ideas. However, on most platforms, it is clearly shown that many worst comments exist under someone’s post. Most of the comments are about race and attractiveness. The comment contained racial races, gender discrimination, and Sexual harassment. In recent years, there have been a few cases of suicide, self-harm, or psychological disorders caused by malicious comments on the Internet. The Internet is no longer a platform for people to use for entertainment and communication. Its widespread availability has exposed more and more people to malicious attacks from strangers. Internet users must behave ethically when they are on social media platforms. It is also important for the public to take responsibility for stopping the spread of problematic content and attractive activity.
Conclusion
The Internet is a public, transparent and global platform for users and developers. It is important to have standardized and clean content, which is essential for the rapid development of a social platform. All participants in the internet should take responsibility for regulating social platforms and creating a safe and secure internet environment.
References
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