Social Media and modern human society

The wonderful connectivity tool called social media soon turned into a monster facilitating hate and fake news.

 Social Media and modern human society

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• The story: In 2010, the world woke up to the story of social media, as an agent of communication made easy. The phenomenal rise thereafter has scripted history. New platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp proved useful and billions took to them. But soon, their dark side was on bright display as democracies began to go dysfunctional.
• An attack on democracies: The sheer scale at which these social platforms could be used by anyone, led to the proliferation of hate and violence that went unchecked for long. Society was literally under attack from millions of hate-spewing handles, before the platforms began putting some checks. For a democracy to function well, agents of hate and misinformation have to be kept in check. Sadly, the past few years saw that fundamental assumption breaking down.
• Vast scale: The rapid rise of social media was unprecedented. As mobile handsets grew in sophistication, and became cheap, and as data was made ubiquitous, social media went into every hand. While India had 574 million active Internet users as of 2019, the number rose to beyond 80 crore by 2021. India was the second-largest online market, behind China. The majority of India’s internet users are mobile phone internet users. The overall data traffic in India increased by 47% in 2019 driven by continued 4G consumption. 4G constituted 96% of the total data traffic consumed, while 3G data traffic registered its highest-ever decline of 30%. By 2021, the numbers had exploded.
• Benefits: There is no doubt that social media, cheap internet and better handsets have democratised information. Knowledge and broader communication is made possible at a level not possible earlier. Billions of netizens around the world now feel empowered to bypass traditional curators of information. They have also become creators and disseminators of content, not just consumers of it.

1. New businesses - The rise of the virtual world provides voiceless people unprecedented opportunities to assert themselves and experience a sense of belongingness. The rapid rise of many "YouTubers" as professionals is proof. Many new age firms popped into existence after 2015.
2. Wider communities - Online communities are, geographically, much wider and more heterogeneous than physical communities. Earlier, many communities in India were not allowed to participate in public discourses, organise themselves and advance their thoughts and ideas. Their concerns, ideas, experiences, ambitions and demands largely went unheard. Not so anymore.
3. Cheap and easy - Today, creating content needs less investment compared to physical infrastructure. It is more often soft-skill driven. With the assistance of technology, anyone can create competent, authentic, effective and fresh online content.
4. Countering hegemony - Social Media has also evolved as a tool to counter the hegemony or narrative of traditional players. It provided an alternate source of knowledge in a world where mainstream media has come under severe public criticism for fake news and propaganda.
5. Closing the gap - Social Media bridged the distance between friends and family, who were connected easily despite being far away.
6. Direct interaction with authorities - Social media empowered the common people to directly interact with the government and avail government services. Many common folks tagged Ministers and had their problems resolved.

• Challenges: The pluses of social media, sadly, were eclipsed by the dangerous problems that often led to real world violence.

1. Hate speech - Amplification of hate speech and spreading rumours was responsible for many acts of violence and deaths. WhatsApp rumours fuel local anxieties and entire vigilante groups get set to attack the target. Riots too are engineered in the same way.
2. Fake news factories - Global surveys have shown that a huge per cent of Indian social media users encounter fake news daily. Edited images, manipulated videos and fake text messages spread like wildfire, making it harder to distinguish between misinformation and credible facts. The rise of "WhatsApp University" is a phenomenon worth studying.
3. Online trolling - Trolling is the byproduct of Social Media, where aggressive vigilantes start attacking (trolling) and threatening those who don’t agree with their views or narratives. It has led to armies of anonymous trolls who attack the reputation of an individual. Hashtags are run in coordinated fashion on social media to threaten corporates and individuals into submission.
4. Women safety - A large no. of women face cyber rape and threats that affect their dignity severely. Their pictures and videos are leaked and they are subjected to cyber bullying. The law enforcement is often found slow and wanting in such matters.
5. Paid agents - Russia was blamed for running an entire campaign against the Democrats (and in favour of Donald Trump) in 2016 US Presidential elections, where thousands of paid agents kept spreading targeted misinformation inside US, for months. Trump won the election.

• Solutions: Under fire from media, lawmakers and citizens, the giant social media firms have begun taking some action.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) - These have put up a mix of automated and human driven editorial processes to promote or filter certain types of content. They claim that their AI units will automatically flash the danger of mis reporting everytime an image or news is shared.
2. Right information - Alternative information alongside the content with fake information is posted so that the users are exposed to the truth and correct information. This approach, implemented by YouTube, encourages users to click on the links with verified and vetted information that would debunk the misguided claims made in fake or hateful content. If you search “Vaccines cause autism” on YouTube, while you still can view the videos posted by anti-vaxxers, you will also be presented with a link to the Wikipedia page of MMR vaccine that debunks such beliefs. Twitter also labels misleading posts accordingly.
3. Regulations - Clearly, there must be exhaustive national laws to deal with the ever expanding horizon of Social Media. Responsibility must be fixed and there must be deterrence of law.
4. Public awareness - A digitally literate country is the need of the hour. Responsible social media use must be taught at a young age, and especially in the rural areas where people can be easily manipulated.
5. Legal measures - The Election Commission of India (ECI) announces measures to curb fake news and misinformation on social media platforms at the time of elections. It brings political parties’ social media content under the ambit of the model code of conduct, and asks candidates to disclose their social media accounts and all expenditure on their respective social media campaigns.

• Summary: While freedom of speech is important, its misuse to spread hate and bigotry needs an urgent check. Big technology firms who own social media platforms, can mediate content, which may seem ideal but must be restricted to clearly defined categories only. The Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen informed US lawmakers in 2021 how FB ignored hate engines operating in various countries. That implicates FB and its executives severely.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) What went wrong with social media platforms, that started off as excellent ways to connect humanity? Explain. (2) The Myanmar Army was accused of using Facebook to orchestrate a real genocide against the Rohingyas. Explain. (3) India is witness to massive hatemongering in social media. Why are institutions found wanting? Analyse.

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