This has to be confronted, and Facebook has gained a great deal of power under the constant expansion of the internet economy development model in terms of social influence and the continued development of issues on a social level. Facebook’s main power as a social media can be seen in its power to control people’s opinions and limit expression. Facebook carries the majority of the public’s social functions and communication functions. These two functions attract many users who need Facebook as a platform to provide a free public area of the Internet. The key to the development of the Internet is innovation and community，these technological reforms that represent innovation are gradually moving away from the concept of public (Quiggin & Potts, 2008). This also means that there must be a gap between the Internet and the government.
“dinero facebook” by clasesdeperiodismo is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Power comes from the user
The expanding number of users empowers Facebook because users are at the core of the growth of these internet companies. First of all, the users are the fundamental component that makes Facebook work. Users give Facebook the space to operate. This is because, in this whole process, even the commercial activities in the platform are generated because of these users. People will watch Facebook, and then Facebook gains its value. Users have empowered Facebook to expand on the web. Social media has vast marketing potential, and platforms bring businesses and users closer together and act as a thinking collection center utilizing a large amount of information to create a multifaceted advantage (Lee et al, 2012). The constant facilitation between users and Facebook has helped Facebook to evolve, and this is because any preference that users have in Facebook has helped Facebook to create a more socially adaptable platform. Creating more value with Facebook. Facebook will get the user’s power to expand its functionality and go beyond the initial delivery of information. Secondly, this is a mutual reinforcement caused by the fact that Facebook’s users as a base unit generate enormous profits for Facebook, which helps it consolidate its position further. Facebook has a business value of over $8 billion per year in 2020 and 2022. This money can be expressed as the value created by users, which helps Facebook to develop new technologies further. Facebook is focusing on the social architecture at the meta-universe level from 2021 onwards, which once again changes the traditional mode of interaction between people and realizes a higher degree of freedom of network creation (Kraus et al., 2022). This can also lead to the concern that in the process of evolution.
Power comes from the government
The government needs Facebook to bring more dynamism to society as a representative of technological innovation, but also because continuous innovation is harder to regulate. First of all, the government is also mandated by the public and needs to serve the public, and this is where social media like Facebook, can build a bridge between the public and the government. Social media can help the government announce and generate public discussion on releasing information, corruption issues, and satisfaction surveys (Lu et al., 2016). Facebook is a faster way to communicate with the public, which is different from previous news or information dissemination. The government needs social media to bring many people to Facebook to help stabilize society. For example, during the new coronavirus outbreak, Facebook is helping the community learn about the dangers of the new coronavirus, the role of vaccines, and raising funds for medical assistance. Secondly, Facebook’s technology and scale have proliferated, and this has resulted in the expansion of Facebook’s power. Facebook has always been at the forefront of technology, as in the case of the metaverse, where the development of meta-universe technology has directly overshadowed the real-world community. Meta-universe is a technologically presented virtual space built on sensory experiences that have made inroads in education, socialization, gaming, and medical experimentation (Kye et al., 2021). Thirdly, most of the speech on Facebook also comes from a libertarian purpose as an expression, and government cannot restrict free expression. People seek individual free expression and resistance to the elite class in the virtual community network (Castells, 2002). This also means that while the government is taking care of these liberal expressions, it also creates a situation where language platforms like Facebook are gaining more power.
The Abuse of Power on Facebook
“Facebook: The privacy saga continues” by opensourceway is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
The abuse of power by Facebook has reached a severe point where Facebook is getting away from the law due to the constant updating of technology and the large number of people in society. First, Facebook’s data processing and user information data are all due to them. One of the problems that this raises is that of data leakage. Although this data is on the bright side, being used to iterate and update products and provide better services, the leakage of data privacy will result in a situation where personal privacy will not exist. In front of third parties or other advertisers, Facebook has a massive market of more than 1.4 billion users; privacy breach on Facebook is a deprivation of user privacy and is used to create economic value (kapur et al., 2020). Secondly, Facebook controls freedom of speech by automatically blocking words and bans any user. This includes President Trump, Trump banned for two years for praising riots at the U.S. Capitol. This would reflect the fact that Facebook itself symbolizes the law, which creates a situation where the government does not exercise the law. This means that Facebook can create news that suits them and promotes positive relevance while blocking out unfavorable speech on their platform. Thirdly, when Facebook has the power to inform, it naturally has the power to manipulate public opinion. This creates a situation where Facebook can manipulate the government’s political intentions in terms of news direction and discussion of national issues. The government will be influenced by Facebook’s subtle influence through information, even affecting a country’s election. Facebook will also arrange more politicians in the election or the government who favor the company’s development. This is a more severe expansion of power. Facebook leaked the data of more than 5 million users for political. This political influence of Facebook will accumulate and grow through the users and start to grab the power of the government.
Power relations in the Internet
It is a matter of certainty that while science and technology need to develop and facilitate the life of human society, they must not violate anyone’s rights. This is because the development of technology cannot depend on crime. Users, Facebook, and the government have contributed to Facebook’s immense power today. Although not placed on Facebook, these powers are unsafe in other individuals, combinations, and governments. Users should urge Facebook to improve the legal system as much as possible and ensure that people can use Facebook more safely. Another point is that Facebook’s division of power needs to be standardized, as free speech on social media can sometimes be a natural source of opinion and harm. Trump, at the top of the article, was banned for encouraging criminals to storm the national government. People will feel the need for laws, except people do not accept that this banning behavior comes from Facebook. However, not all bans from Facebook are right. These pictures of children who were burned in the Vietnam War were also banned by Facebook in the name of nudity (Gillespie, 2018). This also means that the freedom face on Facebook is also only relative. However, there is a contradiction in itself regarding the handling of information. These platforms where public information is gathered and dispersed can never remain neutral, and the occurrence and banning of any one point of view can harm the interests of the other (Massanari, 2017). Facebook needs to grow and operate, then cater to more users, and then everyone in the world is different, which will create a myriad of antagonisms.
#Facebook #Power #Freedom #Technology
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