Global Societal Problem, Argument and Solution Social Sciences Essay

Social Media Censorship and its Impact
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Abstract
The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in the adoption of social media and associated platforms at the global level. Despite the enormous benefits being offered by such platforms, it has been observed that the online freedom and unchecked sharing of content online has also created several cultural and political distress in some parts of the world. The aim of this research is to evaluate the enormous benefits of online social media platforms and some of the negative consequences experienced by the global community. The need for international dialogue, education, and development of a legal framework are of vital importance in creating a balance between freedom and adverse implications of the online activities.
Social Media Censorship and its Impact
Social media and associated platforms have become one of the most reliable methods of communications, news sharing, and give opinions. Even in the countries where the concepts of free media and freedom of expression are denied, the accessibility and freedom of expression provided by these platforms have played a vital role in developing basic democratic and liberal conceptions in most of the world (Bryfonski, 2012). The people can connect with each other for any social and political cause. According to an estimate the total number social media participants exceed over two billion, which gives an idea of the opportunities being offered by such platforms to share and information and opinions regarding any topic at their disposal. The users of such platforms don’t require to seek permission or to submit any information for review and they can directly publish the information using the internet (Bryfonski, 2012). The rise and rapid adoption of the social media have created some problems of the states who don’t want some specific sorts of information to be shared with the rest of the world. The political implications for states are enormous, for instance, the start of Arab Spring in 2010 and the Million People March in the Philippines in 2013 are the prime examples of the social media’s long-lasting political and social implications (Bryfonski, 2012). However, this unchecked freedom of expression is not universally welcomed and seen as a threat to social and political structures of many countries. For instance, China, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Vietnam all have state-sponsored social media censorships and the filtering systems installed for the information available on the internet (Bryfonski, 2012). China is considered to be one of the worst countries in regards to internet censorship. The “Great Firewall of China” include the keyword blocking and removal of certain words from the internet for the public (In De, In Shi, & In Thussu, 2018). China’s neighbor DPRK or North Korea is the only country on the planet which has banned the use of the internet of the general public. Apart from this communist states some of the modern democratic governments have also placed restrictions on the internet and social media platforms (In De, In Shi, & In Thussu, 2018). For instance, South Korean government blocks access to social media and sometimes the internet when there are revised threats of war (In De, In Shi, & In Thussu, 2018). Moreover, the developed countries including the United States and the United Kingdom also believe to be controlling or at least gathering information about the online activities of their populations including ear dropping, keyword-based surveillance, and possible spying the communities without any consent of the public (In De, In Shi, & In Thussu, 2018). The aim of this research is to conduct a systematic review of the vastness of social media, its censorship, and the impacts of censorship on the global societies.
Censorship is one of the regulations which is under debate for decades as it has a direct and significant impact on the democratic institutions, norms, and social movements within a society (European Conference on Information Literacy et al., 2013). Unfortunately, most of the studies on the social media censorships have been constructed on the countries have dictatorships or military regimes (In Dwivedi, 2011). So there is a significant gap in the literature on the extent of censorship at global levels. It is an admitted fact that some of the democratic countries including the United States have some sort of censorship and surveillance techniques used to gather or ban information on social media platforms. For instance, pressurized by the governments from all over the world one of the most commonly used social media platforms Twitter developed an interactive interface for the governments to request information for any specific tweet or for all accounts (In Dwivedi, 2011). The company since then developed bi-year reports for the governments to review tweets and take necessary actions aimed at blocking or developing cases against unwanted material and individual/organizations behind them according to their national laws (In Dwivedi, 2011).
The advocates of the online censorship claim that increased online freedom can result in several negative outcomes for their societies. The prime example is the Arab Spring which resulted in the regime changes in decades-old dictatorships in the Middle East. The Arab Spring by some of the social experts in the Middle East is labeled as “Arab Autumn” owing to its devastating impact on the economies and resulting civil wars in Libya and Syria (Soep, 2016). These experts claim that the owing to the Arab Spring the entire regions have indulged into instability and economic recession. Moreover, the democratic regimes might work for most of the Western Countries but for the societies like those in the Middle East are structured in a manner that cannot withstand any impulsive democratic change (Soep, 2016). So these societies require a systematic implementation of democratic reforms in their political and social infrastructures. The Egyptian demonstrators of the Arab Spring were not able to present any reliable alternative for the country and thus exploited by the Islamic extremists and rendering the country into a distress until today. Same goes for Libya which is fighting for its own existence since the regime change and divided into central governments (Soep, 2016). The Syrian Civil has been a human tragedy which was also initiated with such impulsive movements started by unauthentic YouTube.com videos.
One of the most highlighting features which are used by the advocates of the social media censorship is the rise of the ISIS and its ability to recruit fighters from the European, Canadian, and American communities (Soep, 2016). The unchecked videos showed the terr...