| Introduction: Briefly describe social media. Body: Describe role of social media in public opinion and how it can be regulated. Conclusion: Conclude the answer by giving a balanced point of view. |
Social media in recent times has become a powerful tool to influence public opinion and influence the prevailing discourse going on in society. Social media has emerged so powerful due to its low cost, wide reach, easy accessibility, and availability of smartphones. Social media has acted as a double-edged sword where it has broadened the avenues for democratic participation on one hand but has led to concerns regarding the spread of hate and violence in society.
Role of social media in shaping public opinion:
- Democratization of public opinion: Social media has democratized the public space by giving voice to oppressed, marginalized people and sharing their perspectives with a wider audience.
- Dissemination of new information: Social media has enabled rapid dissemination of information in new fields like investigative journalism, environment, freedom of the press, and citizen-centric journalism.
- Influence on public policy: social media has been used by politicians, and governments to gather support for their initiatives and broaden their support by use of debates, advertisements, and social campaigns.
- Polarization of public opinion: Social media algorithm collect user preferences and use them to personalize the content where individuals are exposed to the same type of content which lead to reinforcing existing beliefs and contribute to polarization of opinion.
How can social media be regulated to prevent the spread of hate and misinformation:
- Regulate hate speech and violence: There is an urgent need to define what constitutes “hate speech” clearly with, effective enforcement mechanisms and active collaboration between government, civil society & social media companies.
- Data Protection: As social media collects a huge amount of personal data there is a need for strong data protection law which ensures informed consent, transparency in usage, and the right to privacy.
- Spread of misinformation and disinformation: Misinformation and disinformation inhibit the decision-making process and leads to confirmation bias. There is a need of promoting media literacy, fact-check platforms like Alt News and ensure accountability of platform providers.
- Stringent law mechanism: New IT rules laid down by the government put a greater obligation on companies regarding hate speech, and misinformation being posted on their platforms.
- International cooperation: Since most of these social media platforms are foreign-based with their data control centres outside India, there is a need for cooperation with foreign governments and big tech companies to fight fake news, hate speech, and disinformation.
- Grievance redressal: Courts should take cognizance of the rising cases of hate speech, fake news, and violence very stringently. There is a need to establish Fast track courts with a quick disposal of cases to address this issue.
Conclusion:
There is a need to maintain a balance between freedom of speech and public interests in the use of social media. There is urgent need to revive social interactions between communities and individuals to rebuild the social fabric of our society.
