Laws and Ethics : LJ6

 Part 1: Social Media Laws and Ethics

I thought these two chapters on laws, regulations and ethics were a great read. The chapters emphasize the gray area that new technologies reside in when it comes to the law. I especially found the section that broke down Facebook's Terms and Conditions to be very eye-opening. As Lipschultz says, "too frequently, users click to gain access without reading and understanding terms, which specific rules covering vague areas of the law" (Lipschultz 2021). I fall into this category. It's hard to completely blame Facebook for their invasiveness, when I as a consumer turn a blind eye. While knowing this will not affect my use of social media (since I was made already aware of their invasiveness), it does make me question the ethics even further. I believe that Facebook keeping content that consumers purposefully deleted is wrong and all the information gathered under their "data policy" is completely unethical to document. 

Part 2: Social Media Lies and Propaganda 

I really enjoyed reading the article that describes how even rational people can fall for propaganda. The article found that "higher levels of cognitive reflection were associated with increased ability to discern fake and real news, and generally more responsible social media use" (Stecula & Pickup, 2021). I have seen this within my own life during these past couple of years. Many of my family members sent propaganda (and "facts" that weren't proven to be true) about COVID-19 to me through Facebook. Aligning with Stecula and Pickup's research, the family members that sent these messages have had a history of not being able to ignore invalid or misguided intuition.

 Learning this information will not change how I use social media. Since the pandemic (and all the other bad things about 2020) started, I have already gotten fairly good at deciding what is real. This includes checking sources and cross-referencing (or checking) multiple media outlets. Similarities in the details shown across multiple credible sources tend to make me a little more comfortable with believing.  Checking the origin of content is very important to me, as The Washington Post highlights the many ways pieces of content can be altered, including "splicing", "omission" , "doctoring" and "fabrication" (WP Company, 2019). Additionally, I try to stick to news outlets that do not let their personal feelings get in the way. I've found that gathering news about my country from other countries tend to have a more neutral perspective. Along with this, I usually do not go to social media for news. This is due to it being "a source of news associated with greater likelihood of encoring various conspiracy theories" (Stecula & Pickup, 2021). 

Reference:

Lipschultz, J. H. (2021). Social Media Communication: Concepts, practices, data, Law and Ethics. Routledge. 

Stecula, D. A., & Pickup, M. (2021, June 8). Social Media, cognitive reflection, and conspiracy beliefs. Frontiers. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.647957/full 

WP Company. (2019, June 25). The Washington Post's Guide to Manipulated Video. The Washington Post. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/fact-checker/manipulated-video-guide/?utm_term=.cd779e27a0d0&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1