Week 11- The Role of Free Expression in Social Media
Week 11
The Role of Free Expression in Social Media
As the country feels the effects of a pandemic, an economic crash, and an upcoming election, people are becoming more tired, frustrated, confused, and energized all at once. While the world continues to turn, people have tried to remain both inside and informed. Often times, people turn to social media to learn more information, discuss their issues, and sadly learn more to make a "informed" vote. Each day, controversial statements are made online, ones which often call the First Amendment and its protections into question.
Social media can be applied to all Eight Values of Free Expression. However, most recently, the Marketplace of Ideas played a major role throughout social media. While people continue daily to spread misinformation online, others are forced to try to find the truth. This leaves many wondering what actually is the truth and how they can find it. The Marketplace of Ideas is perfectly demonstrated by social media, but also causes many individuals confusion and can result in poor, uneducated decisions. Consequently, social media can be blamed used as proof of the truth of the theory as well as proof that the theory is not fully true. While people should be able to find truth, they often struggle to find it in todays confusing society.
In the past few weeks, Twitter has shown that there is still hope for this theory however. When President Trump tweeted false statements about Mail In Ballots, Twitter placed a line under his two tweets with links to factual sources. Consequently, in a fit of rage, President Trump signed an Executive Order seeking to limit the reach of social media companies. So at the end of the day, should social media companies assist in the Marketplace of Ideas and help people find the truth, or should they leave it to the people and hope they find the truth? That is for you to decide, yet apparently President Trump thinks he can decide it for all.
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