Abstract
Nowadays, there is a growing debate on the impact of social media on society, particularly on its potential negative effects. Therefore, this research is focused on three intersections of social media and fundamental freedoms: free speech, freedom of information and privacy. We begin analyzing social networking sites and social media role and evolution since their birth at the beginning of 21st century and remarking their positive aspects. Our objective is to identify malpractices related to social media and fundamental freedoms. A review of the literature is presented which outlines those malpractices. This review highlights some issues, such as arbitrary censorship, boundaries of free speech, misinformation, diversity of sources, visions and views, user content and privacy settings, and data profiling. Finally, we propose some solutions for each one of those issues.
Highlights
The growth and diffusion of new technologies, such as Social Media, raises new ethical issues (Díaz-Campo & Segado-Boj, 2014)
A review of the literature is presented which outlines malpractices related to social media and fundamental freedoms, such as free speech, freedom of information and privacy
Arbitrary censorship Social media have turned into a public sphere where political and social interest information is circulated and discussed and remain centrally designed and controlled systems (Plantin, Lagoze, Edwards, & Sandvig, 2018)
Summary
The growth and diffusion of new technologies, such as Social Media, raises new ethical issues (Díaz-Campo & Segado-Boj, 2014). Since their birth, social media have evolved from leisure oriented venues into platforms for social interaction, information and civic debate (Guallar, Suau, Ruiz-Caballero, Sáez, & Masip, 2016). Social media have evolved from leisure oriented venues into platforms for social interaction, information and civic debate (Guallar, Suau, Ruiz-Caballero, Sáez, & Masip, 2016) They have turned into massive spaces where a huge portion of citizens develop at least a part of their social lives. Facebook grew from almost 1 million users in 2004 to more than 2.000 million in 2019 (“Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 1st quarter 2019 (in millions),” 2019) In such spaces citizens are exposed to information on political issues and public affairs even if they are not actively seeking for such information (Fletcher & Nielsen, 2018)
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