Government should regulate social media

The manipulation of the public’s perception of the presidential candidates was one very major avenue that was used and this was aided mainly by social media. Through social media, there were ‘fake’ journalists who were willing to publish ‘fake news. ’ Social media being a tool that was easily used to influence the American’s decision on the elections has caused a lot of questions and the need to revisit the use of social media by the general public and the regulation on social media (“Should Facebook and Twitter be Regulated under the First Amended” n. d). When focusing on the use of social media, there is a growing need for the public to be educated on how to identify ‘fake news’ and keep off from such influences. It is alleged that Facebook accesses private data and uses it for malicious intent.

This was especially true during the United States election when certain candidates complained about having their data beached to favor the other candidate. The kind of controversy that the social media industry is encapsulated ignites the never-ending debate of whether social media should be regulated. How Facebook and other social media are misused Abuse of Facebook and social media concerns the misuse of social media like Facebook to pass messages that are not proper. With regard to the Russian invasion of the U. Furthermore, people were treated to new such as in November 2016 when a fake account named "United Muslims of America" posted a message claiming that Muslims had decided not to vote for Hilary Clinton since she was to continue with the war against Muslims in the Middle East. Such information as stated by Taibbi (2018) served to instigate negative feelings of the electorate towards Hilary Clinton.

The ethos behind the regulation of social media The number one reason why social media should be regulated is that ethics demands that this media should be used for the sake of passing information and giving information (Collins, 2017). Therefore, having seen how the media can be misused for selfish reasons such as political persuasion, then it is necessary that media regulations be put in place to control what people publish and to monitor information given to the public. Additionally, media is required to behave ethically, and so, the initiation of regulation is aimed at making those that run the media to control the published information. On the other hand, however, there are those that have claimed that the processor such regulations may be used to limit the freedom of speech (Taibbi, 2018).

Such claims have further been supported by the idea that social media has been the only medium through which people can speak freely and openly. Even so, with such arguments, opponents to regulation should know that the regulations are necessary for ensuring ethics in people’s behavior. Logos behind regulation of social media Logos deals with reasoning and judgment. After the events that have happened in the past elections and have seen that social media can deny people justice, regulation should be seen as a matter of Logos. Facebook has been implicated in this saga several times and has always not been able to explain the data breach issues comprehensively. Several people have gone ahead to brand Facebook a spying agency that undermines democracy and the right to privacy. Some argue that social media should not be regulated as they are the only outlets that allow the freedom of speech and expression.

On the other hand, other take an opposing view that Facebook and other social media should be watched by an authority in the sense that the content going through it be assessed before it can reach the consumers. The claim, this will reduce the influx of fake news and cybercrimes. Should Facebook Ads Be Regulated Like TV Commercials? The Atlantic Taibbi, M. The Facebook Menace. Rolling Stone. Timmons, H. Congress Finally has a bill to regulate Facebook.