Between the Lines
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16A OPINION THE LITTLE HAWK | THELITTLEHAWK.COM | FEBRUARY 16th, 2018 Between the Lines On freedom of speech in an age free of accountability The New Big Brother Keeping the Internet Ecosystem Green By Eden Knoop By Reese Hill In the a"ermath of Logan Paul’s Social media is a way of life for us bu#oonish video of a dead body in Ja- in this day and age. Most teens have pan’s suicide forest, YouTube and oth- social media accounts. Platforms like er social media platforms have been Twitter and YouTube are frequented by forced to reckon with the disturbing millions. Internet stars have developed materials they distribute. This reck- on these platforms, gathering follow- oning comes a"er scrutiny beginning ers, fame, fortune, and in%uence. It’s with outrage over monetized channels time the content they post is evaluated that exploited children. Paul was not and properly regulated. social media’s $rst controversy, but he Recently, many platforms have pushed YouTube to change the way it faced problems with censorship, par- handles content. ticularly YouTube. The platform’s big- Although censorship may seem gest star, PewDiePie, was attacked for like an easy solution, it’s not an ef- posting anti-Semitic jokes and Nazi fective one. Censorship leads to little imagery. Later came the discovery of improvement at the expense of free channels dedicated to videos featuring speech. Previous attempts to regulate exploited children in revealing cloth- content led YouTube to demonetize ing, which had managed to dodge some LGBT-related videos and Face- YouTube’s child safety guidelines. book to remove photos of breast-feed- Most recently, vlogger Logan Paul ing moms and the historically import- faced backlash a"er posting a video in ant Napalm Girl. However, YouTube’s which he $lmed the body of a suicide most recent regulation is its worst. victim in Japan. In an e#ort to regulate monetized That this content can be uploaded channels, the platform demonetized and seen by millions is unacceptable, small channels, hurting their visibility especially since the majority of sub- and growth. They are now paying for scribers to these channels are young Paul’s actions—literally. people. (Logan Paul’s 15 million Censorship hurts the most vulner- subscribers are mainly white females able. Restrictions of speech usually from age 11 onward.) Our society come at the behest of governments us- is powered by the Internet. It is our ing platforms to control information. primary source of news, entertain- At the Indian government’s request, ment, and communication. But, as Twitter banned users sympathetic to the old saying goes, “you are what you Kashmiri independence. Facebook eat.” By this logic, the content that is blocked the co-author of the Panama allowed on the Internet should not be Papers for criticizing the Maltese hateful or insensitive. An onslaught of government. In Israel, the government harmful media will desensitize us to pressures platforms to censor Pales- hate and promote a world of indi#er- tinians. In the case of Tamara Abu ence. In other media, regulations are Laban, posting the words “Forgive already in place. The FCC has a policy me” in Arabic was enough to have her prohibiting profanity on public televi- arrested, $ned, and given $ve days of sion. This o#ensive content could not house arrest. be aired on television, so there is no Platforms also o"en put the tools reason it should be put online. of censorship in the hands of users, Freedom of speech is a critical part who target speech that they dislike. of our Constitution. But it’s common In particular, Twitter has a problem sense that freedom of speech means with users seeking to prevent speech the freedom to express oneself, not they oppose by mass reporting, the freedom to be a bigot or instigate typically targeting minorities, women, hate with volatile opinions. Freedom and journalists. Ukrainian news site of speech is not an invitation to be a Liga was blocked from Facebook public menace, and too o"en we let following false reports of its content. hate slide online. Rose McGowan was suspended from The problem is, YouTube does Twitter during her campaign against have protections and regulations set Harvey Weinstein. More damaging up, such as child restriction, %ags, is the apparent selectivity of these and “strikes” against users who post rules, with white supremacist accounts harmful content. So why did Logan remaining up and harassment reports Paul’s video, which was reportedly o"en going unanswered. reviewed before it was posted, get But what may simply be polit- 6 million views before it was taken ical speech to some may be o#ensive down? The answer is the critical %aw to others. The distinction isn’t always in arti$cial intelligence. An algorithm clear, such as in the case of Alex can distinguish o#ensive words or Zaragova, whose article was removed images, but lacks a moral code or any from Facebook for its opening line: ability to judge using ethics. You- “Dear dudes, you’re all trash.” Was it Tube hosts 1 billion active users each humor? An attempt to draw awareness month, and with 300 hours of video to the complicity of many men in uploaded to the site every minute, it harassment? Or was it sexism? Where does seem that arti$cial intelligence is do we draw the line? Can we tell the the only realistic or feasible method political from the hateful, the opinion of regulation. Still, heavier guidelines from the propaganda? must be set. Some videos could be This is why increased censorship reviewed by real people before being is an ine#ective solution. Instead, posted. Stricter punishments against platforms must enforce the rules they users who abuse the terms of agree- already have in place and practice ment could help as well. transparency. Twitter must start taking In the end, the Internet is the harassment reports seriously. Face- primary way we connect, learn, and book must recommit itself to warning grow. Like our natural environment, users of fake content. Users need to it should be a healthy, civilized place know that the rules are applied consis- where rules and freedom do not con- tently and fairly. Likewise, platforms tradict each other, but maintain order. need to take responsibility for their And just as the Internet has dark decisions, both good and bad. Only corners and harmful content, real life then can the dream of a free and safe isn’t perfect. But we can, and always Internet be realized for everyone. should, try to do better..