Legal and Ethical Issues on Social Media Platforms

The work explores the legal and ethical issues on social media platforms with a focus on Facebook. It discusses the duty of Facebook to rescue a crime victim, proactive review of content, safeguards from prevention of acts of violence, evaluation of ethics based positions at Facebook and changes Facebook should adopt to encourage ethical use of its platform.

Legal and ethical issues

With the enhanced globalization and the development of the information and
technology practices, the social media has become indispensable part of the lives of the
people in today’s times. However, there has arisen the issue of regulation of the content to be
displayed on the internet, with the growing number of cases of violence, gender based abuse
and other illegal content being circulated on the social media platforms. The following work
is aimed at exploring the various facets of the videos of the incidents like that of Cleveland
shooting being circulated on the Facebook.
The legal or ethical duty of Facebook to rescue a crime victim
The same technology and the social media that facilitates the democratic activists
groups can also be used by the criminal groups to purport hate and criminal activities. Both
the groups are able to reach broader audiences than their actual core readership through the
social media platforms. The platforms like Facebook and others earn their revenues by
facilitating the advertisers for the targeting of the audiences (Michael, 2014). Today, the wide
appearance of the smart phones has made the act of going live as simple as tapping on an app
unlike the previous times where it required technical complex infrastructure of cameras,
satellites and other to live stream and circulate the content. With the said facilities and rise in
the live video incidents the focus has been widely shifted to ethical and moral
responsibilities. As per the directions of the United Nations there lies a responsibility on the
private businesses for the protection of the human rights. This means that the entities should
work towards the minimization of the impacts on the human rights from the activities that are
directly linked to their services (Suzor & Wood, 2014). On moral grounds it would be right to
state that being a media company and the prominence of the entity as a source of news and
the resulting influence on the society, it is the responsibility of the entity to notify the
appropriate law enforcement officials. The duty is because of the fact the platform is aware of
the crime being committed in real time.
How social media platforms can be more proactive in terms of the
review of the types of content
The following segment is descriptive of ways that can be employed by the social
media platforms to be more proactive in terms of the review of the content that appears on
their platforms. The first discipline that must be abided by the social media platform is to
devise and implement a code of conduct. The said code of conduct must be descriptive of the

boundaries of content to be posted to take the control of the small percentage of the users that
disturb the social media community. Thus, strong steps must be taken to manage the user
content in the form of development of clear community standards and enforcement of the
same (Witnov, 2011). The second step that can be implemented as per the said code of
conduct is that the platforms must trace the originators of information being posted and when
required by government agencies. The said originators must be permanently banned from
using the platform in future to convey a strong message in the community. The third step that
can be taken is to appoint a surveillance team that reviews the account and the other
connected accounts as soon as some violent content as soon as it is being posted.
Safeguards from prevention of acts of violence from being
broadcasted
The following segment is descriptive of the two safeguards that must be put into place
by the Facebook and other social media platforms to help prevention of the acts of violence
from being broadcasted. The first way can be the development of an artificial intelligence
based technology that identifies the violent and hate explicit content and prevents the sharing
and spreading of the same. The Facebook and other social media platforms engage in the
review of the content once the same has been flagged and reported by any audience. However
the company is suggested to opt for the pre-emptive means by setting up an IT team that
works round the clock to review the live content, as soon as the same is being posted and the
consumer care line must be introduced for enabling the calls to report the suspicious accounts
and content.
Evaluation of ethics based positions at Facebook
At present the entity Facebook has no such positions like that of Ethics Officer or
Oversight Committee in its corporate governance structure. However, an independent
oversight committee must be established in the company to deal with the issue of the
moderation of the content. The key function of the team must include the creation of the
accountability and oversight and provision of the assurance that the decision about the
content being posted would be in the best interest of the community and not for the purpose
of the commercial reasons. In addition, the said committee should oversee that the employees
and other members of the entity are provided with adequate training in context of the ethical

conducts and decision making. Thus, the said body would play a crucial role in achieving the
overall governance at the enterprise.
Changes Facebook should adopt to encourage the ethical use of its
platform
The two changes that can be adopted by Facebook to encourage the ethical use of the
platform is by making the applicability of the code of conduct mandatory on all the users that
is comprised of the content guidelines. The entity should work with the government
authorities to detect the suspicious accounts and mass banning of the said accounts that
violate the said guidelines, to set an example for the users.

References
Michael, S. (2014). Ethics for Technologists (and Facebook). Retrieved from:
https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=b6264ea2-31bb-4e43-b9e1-
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Suzor, N. & Wood, S. (2014). Facebook and Google have a moral duty to stop online abuse.
Retrieved from: http://theconversation.com/facebook-and-google-have-a-moral-duty-
to-stop-online-abuse-35377
Witnov, S. (2011). Investigating Facebook: The ethics of using social networking websites in
legal investigations. Retrieved from: https://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?
vid=0&sid=aea1f661-cf20-47ac-9a00-8d46c4a88b8d%40pdc-v-
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