Selen Rana Shah
Much Much Much Much
alking to my mum ove r br e a kf a s t , s h e a sked me i f the COVI D vac c in e wa s s uit a ble f o r ve g e t arian s be c ause she’d rea d o n F a c e bo o k t h at it c o nt a i n ed an i mal produc ts. No , I r e s p o n d e d , e x a s p e r at edly p r e ach ing the c omm o n ly us e d m e s s a g e ‘d o n’t b eli eve everything you r e a d o n t h e int e r n e t’ ye t a g ai n . G e o r g e Akerl of first a r g ue d a bo ut a sy m m e t r ic a l inf ormat i on in his paper ‘Th e Ma r ke t f o r ‘L e m o n s’’, a r g u i n g t h at when c onsumers d o n ot h ave a c c e s s t o f ull c o rrect i n f o r mation to assess t h e be s t o ut c o m e f o r t h e m s e lves, t h i s le a ds to ma rket f a ilur e . To d ay wit h t h e a b u nd an c e of digita l infor m at io n in c ir c ulat io n it’s di f f icu lt t o assess what’s f a c t a n d f ic t io n , t hus we ’r e l ef t w i t h a sort of pol itic a l ‘m a r ke t f a ilur e ’. How c a n we as ci t i zens b e sure th at we ’r e m a kin g t h e r ig ht p ol i tical d e cisions when un f o un d e d in f o r m at io n is c ir c u l ate d wi t hout regul ation a n d ult im at e ly is t h is le a d i n g t o o u r detriment? The F a c e bo o k- C a mbr id g e An a ly ti ca d at a s ca ndal in 2018 d e m o n s t r at e d t h at s o c ia l m e di a p lat f o r ms c a n, for b et t e r o r wo r s e , h ave g r e at inf lue n c e over pol itic a l dec is io n s a n d e mp h a s is e d t h e i mmi n e nt need for regul at io n o f d ig it a l in f o r m at io n an d t h e p latforms that this in f o r m at io n is c ir c ulat e d on . D e s p i t e the need for r e g ulat io n o f d ig it a l in f o r m at i on , t h e r e ’s a c onc ern that g ove r n m e nt s m ay a bus e l aws ar o u n d ‘fa ke news’ for t h e ir own p o lit ic a l a g e n d a . T h e li n e be tween preventi n g t h e s p r e a d o f ‘f a ke n ews’ an d hamp e ring freedom o f s p e e c h is be c o m in g in c reasi n g ly blurred, with t h e r is e in le g is lat io n r e s t r i cti n g t h e sprea d of m is in f o r m at io n a c r o s s t h e g l ob e.
Information Information Information Information I t’s b een dem on strated th at g overn m ents m ay not be i n th e b est pl ac e to reg u l ate th i s i n f orm ati on . Germa ny ’s Network E n f orc em ent L aw ( NetzD G ) i s a l aw a i med at c omb ati n g on l i n e h ate speech wh i ch cam e i nt o fo rc e i n 20 1 7. I t requ i res soci al m edi a pl atf orm s w i th over 2 m i l l i on reg i stered u sers to rem ove c ontent deem e d ‘cl ea rly i l l eg al’ w i th i n 24 h ou rs of b ei n g posted. M any c o untri es h ave taken i n spi rati on f rom th i s l aw an d have a dopted si m i l ar l aws i nto th ei r ow n j u ri sdi cti on s despi t e th e cri ti ci sm s of NetzD G. A report i n 20 1 9 by Ja c o b M ch an g am a an d Joel l e F i ss of th e D an i sh th ink t a nk ‘Ju sti ti a’ f ou n d th at at l east 1 3 c ou ntri es h ave a do pt ed l aws si m i l ar to G erm any ’s NetzD G. F ou n der and di rector of ‘Ju sti ti a’ , Jac ob M ch an g am a went on to descri be th i s l aw as th e ‘di g i tal B erl i n Wal l’ wh i ch h as a c ci dental ly i n spi red a ‘ prototy pe f or g l ob al on l i n e c enso rshi p’. I n spi red by NetzD G, som e g overn m ents h ave a ffo rded f u rth er powers to th em selves. T u rkey f or exampl e a do pt ed si m i l ar l eg i sl ati on to NetzD G, h owever, th ei r l aw appl i es to b oth soci al m edi a pl atf orm s an d n ews si tes. The Turki sh l aw g oes even f u rth er i n al l ow i n g th e g overnment t o rem ove c ontent th em selves, i mpose exc essive f ines a nd even redu c e b an dw i dth f or n on- c ompl i an c e by u p t o 9 0%, l eadi n g to redu c ed i ntern et traf f i c to th e extent that websi tes b ec om e u nu sab l e. T h ere i s an u n di sputed need t o reg u l ate m edi a pl atf orm s to redu c e th e spread o f mi si nf orm ati on du e to th e dam ag e i t h as on th e ab i l i ty o f ci t i zen s to m ake i n f orm ed deci si on s. H owever, g ove rnment s w i th u lteri or i ntenti on s m ay b e restri cti n g f reedo m o f speech to pu sh th ei r ow n pol i ti cal ag en da u pon ci t i z ens.
G-YOU MAGAZINE// FEBRUARY 2022// 8
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