Social media can be defined as the set of the “Web-based broadcast technologies that enable the democratization of contents, giving people the ability to emerge from consumers of content to publishers” (Scott 55). Social media allows the owner of an account to have a personal control to publish pieces of information or contents as he or she wishes without having to seek public indulgence or any permission from anyone. This means that social media gives people the freedom to express whatever they feel whether good or bad. The platform that the technology has created could be used to benefits humans but most of the time the social media has been misused to cause more harm than good. Since it is hard to locate or identify the user of a social media account, people have used it to bully, threaten, and insult others without the fear of punishment.
Technology advancement has lead to the rise in the use of simple gadgets like mobile phones and personal computers which can access the internet. This has promoted the creation of social media networking sites like Instagram and Facebook which are formatted to be compatible with phones. Thus, anybody who possesses a mobile phone regardless of age can access the social networking sites which have popularized it. These sites enable people to freely send and receive messages, share information, and form groups which expose them to insults and to be bullied helplessly (Healey 66).
One can join a social media group without having to match his personal information to the account he uses because there is no system put in place to verify the accuracy of the details provided. A person is only required to enter the username, the date of birth, and e-mail address to join a networking site. Such cases give people an opportunity to join the sites using inaccurate information and false names. Therefore, a state of anonymity of the owners of accounts id created. The anonymous state gives rogue social media users the audacity to bully, insult, and threaten others without fear of any punitive measure against them because they know that they cannot be identified (Shulman 91).
Besides, the networking sites are mostly run by private entities that seek to accrue revenue from such accounts. The managers of these sites are only interested in the popularity and not the contents and materials that are posted on the social media. There is a kind of contract whereby upon the user agreeing to terms and conditions of the site, his private information shall not be revealed. Therefore, when a person is bullied or insulted, he cannot produce the requisite evidence in a law court for conviction since access is not allowed and may take a long time to obtain the evidence. The criminal elements feel secure from law enforcement agencies, and therefore they can insult, threaten, and bully others without being apprehended (Wacks 117).
Facebook, for instance, is a social media site that enables people to comment on someone’s picture and later purges it down. The information that was expunged gets deleted from the walls of others who could see. Thus, a person can post a maligning comment and delete it. This act makes retrieval of evidence impossible. This loophole gives the criminals the confidence to defame and insult others and escape penalty.
In conclusion, it suffices to say that social media gives criminals a chance to threaten, insult, and bully others without fear of any punishment because of the lack of networking sites to verify accounts and scrutinize content.
Works Cited
Healey, Justin. Social Impacts of Digital Media. Spinney P, 2011.
Scott. The New Rules of Marketing " Pr: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly. 2013.
Shulman, David. Stigma 2.0. Abuse, Insults and Mocking on the Internet. Taylor " Francis Ltd, 2017.
Wacks, Raymond. Privacy and Media Freedom. Oxford UP, 2013.
