Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors
Awareness in the fields of IT
A brewing storm: On Trump vs Twitter
Context: Twitter flagged two of President Trump’s posts as factually inaccurate and he retaliated by threatening to “strongly regulate” or “close down” all social media platforms.
Criticism of Social Media
Outrage is richly rewarding on digital platforms, which has led to rise of conservative politics
Use of social media for provocative politics has led to increased polarisation of society
They have played major role in genocides and election rigging Ex: Cambridge Analytica
The misuse of social media to spread falsehoods that often incite violence has led to law & order issues
Anonymous and decentralised nature of Social media has led to spread of rumours
Increased bullying and rape threats to women via social media
There are also concerns over
Privacy of users
Data misuse
Political bias
Monopoly behaviour due to distorted competition
Tax avoidance
Infringing on national security: Facebook’s attempt to launch a digital currency Libra has triggered sovereignty concerns among nations.
What is the current conflict all about?
Faced with the criticism of being the platform to spread false news, Twitter wants to increase the credibility of platform by ensuring the political discussion are factually correct.
The intention to ensure all discussions on social media platform are fact-bound and decent is laudatory, but no one body can be the enforcer of this
Given their non-traditional business models and the democratic nature, Social media platforms like twitter are largely unregulated as it is considered as better for Democratic Societies.
The current conflict between the US President and social media platforms is only a component of the ongoing wider debate in the U.S. on the nature of large tech companies.
Big tech companies in US now wield enormous economic, political and social influence on its users that at times conflicts with State authorities
There is growing Political Consensus about the need for increased regulation of big tech companies
Republicans say social media platforms are anti-conservative.
Democrats believe some of these platforms are easily manipulated by enemies of the nation and accuse them of unfair trade and labour practices, and call for breaking them up.
Way Ahead
Some reordering of big tech companies is needed given their rising powers to control society
However, freedom of speech should not be constrained in the process of regulating Social media platforms
Conclusion
Twitter did well to call out President Trump, but fake news is an ecosystem by itself and needs socio-political measures to tackle it
