Ethical Framework of Social Media Based on Text Analysis of Terms of Service of Six Major Platforms

Abstract

In the present digital world, people rely extensively on social media for networking and socializing. As a consequence, they face numerous ethical challenges which make it necessary to constantly reflect on new media ethics emerging from social media. The terms of service (ToS) of social media provide the opportunities for big tech companies’ guidelines to design the ecology and the ethical environment of social media. The existing studies conducted in this domain emphasize on specific ethical issues pertaining to ToS such as privacy, freedom of speech, and copyright protection. But all of these studies lack the exploration of its general ethical framework. Considering the theoretical framework of the Potter Box Model of Reasoning, Schwartz’s value scale, and Christians and Ess’ ethical principles, this paper examines the ToS of social media run by six major platforms across the globe. The result reveals 15 values, which are summarized into three pairs of ethical principles: egoism and altruism, monism and pluralism, and utilitarianism and deontology. The paper further analyzes the hidden conflicts and reveals the emergence of “relational” ethical principle.