Should Social Media Be Regulated?

[Student’s Name] [Institution’s Name] [Submission Date] Should Social Media be regulated? Introduction According to Obar and Wildman (2015, p. 746), lawmakers are planning to impose new regulations on social media due to the post-election congressional hearings about Facebook and other social media platforms, also the increasing information on troll farms in Russia and social media platforms being used by terrorist as a recruiting platform. Moreover, there is also a rapid growth in the morally reprehensible behavior, and in some cases, the criminal is being outrighted which shows nothing but the notoriety of Facebook. More than 200 accounts were also cracked down by the government of Turkey that was linked with terrorist activities. Impose on some robust regulations were suggested strongly during the Facebook hearings by various legislators in the United States. Whereas, it was also argued by some of the strongest proponents of social media that its regulation is a matter of public interest. They perceived that its regulation might be as highly significant as regulating alcohol or tobacco. This essay will critically reflect upon the reasons in light of the advantages and disadvantages of why social media must be regulated. Reasons behind Why Social Media Must Be Regulated One of the critical arguments raised by social media proponents is empowerments of renowned organizations for controlling the information flow. As they perceive that as long as the saturation of social media posts and feeds can be afforded by them including their preferred information than anyone standing in the opposite position can be stream-rolled necessarily due to lack of resources for countering. As Kietzmann et al., (245) indicated that it is the only large and rapidly growing business in the world that may be advantageous at the consumer's expense. It can also be citizens vs. governments. For example, in making efforts for remaining the power social media was used as a tool by some oppressive regimes in Russia or the Philippines. Besides, the pressure of not missing the next information piece or viral post and continuous notifications are some of the analytical techniques being used by platforms of social media as used for drawing gamblers in by the casinos. One of the highest troubling points is that these platforms are even open to individuals from a very young age even less than 13. Moreover, the information ecosystem is defined as little much in the world by most prominent technological organizations like Snap Chat, Twitter, Facebook, and Google. The public sphere is being transformed completely by these organizations that are hardly accountable and hardly regulated. While new opportunities are often presented by these platforms for connecting the people throughout the globe, surfaces for bad actors are also created by them. According to Culnan, McHugh, and Zubillaga (10), misinformation is spread, terrorism is encouraged, individuals engage in online harassment, personal data is being stolen, dissent is suppressed, and free speech is restricted. Therefore, an end must be placed at the age of unregulated social media. However, one of the primary concern is to address individual problems that may result due to inadequate regulation. Therefore, this ...