Keiser University Essay: Government Control on Social Media Debate

This persuasive essay delves into the contentious issue of government control over social media platforms. The author argues against increased government intervention, emphasizing the potential limitations on freedom of expression and the potential for abuse of power. The essay examines the multifaceted role of social media in contemporary society, highlighting its significance for communication, commerce, and the dissemination of information. It acknowledges the need for addressing issues like hate speech and cybercrime but advocates for alternative solutions, such as self-regulation by user communities and better coordination between social media platforms and law enforcement agencies. The essay draws on various sources to support its arguments, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a balance between protecting users and preserving online freedoms. The author concludes that while some control is necessary, excessive government regulation could stifle creativity, limit access to information, and undermine the constructive uses of social media.

Running head: PERSUASIVE ESSAY
PERSUASIVE ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PERSUASIVE ESSAY
The following study is a persuasive essay that analyses the amount of government control
needed on social media. Lately, social media has become one of the biggest world phenomena
ever in human history. It has redefined the internet and taken the online lives of people to an
entirely new level. However, the scope of social media is much larger and encompasses
individual, community, organizational, national, and international boundaries. Moreover, it has
become a major worldwide economic platform due to the rise of e-commerce. It can be said that
social media has developed a communication system that has helped to connect individuals,
communities, businesses, organizations and even governments. However, for a long time it has
also been the hub of various cyber-crimes, hate content, propaganda, fake news and many other
illegal and harmful activities. These activities have made the credibility and safety of social
media questionable.
The thesis statement for the study is: should social media be more strictly controlled by
the government.
Concerning, the statement the stance that has been taken is that government control on
social media should not be increased further. Limiting social media activities can cause the
audiences to be deprived of certain privileges that they are entitled to. This can increase
dissatisfaction among a large number of social media users as they would feel deprived of certain
important freedoms that are guaranteed to them through universal human rights. Hence, it is
important that despite some of the unwanted issues connected with social media, rigorous
government control is avoided. According to Schneider (2016) it is very important that social
media policing is implemented to avoid any illegitimate or unfair usage of social media. As
rightly pointed out, the amount of hate being spread through social media has reached
significantly higher levels. This necessitates that the police departments stay vigilant in
consideration of the social media environment. However, social media control has some
important aspects that can limit the expressive freedom of the users.
Stricter social media control from the government’s end can mean that the control can
even be abused. It can be seen that the governments of various countries have tried to limit the
online freedom of their citizens many times in the past. There are governments that have
imposed complete control over the social media usage of their citizens. It is important to note
that exercising more control over social media can provide government with the power to limit
the usage of social media to great extents (Bradshaw & Howard, 2018). This means that
government can ban or restrict any forums, groups, pages or profiles that they deem to be a
threat. However, social media is being used for many constructive purposes. It is being used to
showcase creativity, social injustice, various local and global problems and human life values.
The huge scope of social media creates a tricky situation when the imposition of rigorous
government control is considered (Hansen, Saridakis & Benson, 2018). In consideration of the
same, it becomes important that social media is regulated more effective through better
directives. There are major disadvantages that can be created due to regular social media control.
In many countries, social media influencers are now required to register under the government as
they are considered to be using social media for business purposes.
Influencers are people that tend to have a large number of followers. Normally, they give
out information regarding their various areas of expertise. There are many influencers that
provide political commentaries and views on socio-political issues. The rigorous control
mechanisms of the government have tried to control influencers that have spoken against the

2PERSUASIVE ESSAY
government policies. It is important to note that the development of better techniques to manage
social media can be much more effective than complete government control (Sisson, 2017).
There is a need to develop self-control mechanisms within the user communities of social media
sites. There is a need to understand that social media has various important functions in the
present public life. It is also the home of various credible and effective alternative media
platforms. Government control can also be used to limit the development of these free news
platforms. It is important that the various social media are managed through the participation of
responsible social media user’s communities.
The idea should hence, be to develop social media platforms as safer and more secure
platforms to express oneself. The usage of social media can be limited through more government
control. This can be seriously harmful for the people that use social media for more creative and
better purposes. However, there are certain problems that need to be considered more. Hence,
there should be more effective control in case of hate content, terrorism and criminal activities.
This does not necessitate the usage of rigorous control on all aspects of social media. There is a
need to develop better coordination between the social networking sites, the social media users’
community, the cyber-crime departments of the police and the various government agencies. The
freedom of expression on social media cannot be limited by the government decisions. This
makes it necessary that better steps are taken towards creating a more enlightened social media
community. It should be remembered that the huge scope of social media creates a tricky
situation when the rigorous government control is considered. It becomes important that social
media is regulated more effective through better directives. There are major disadvantages that
can be created due to regular social media control.
The implications of the study point towards the fact that social media has become an
important part of the daily lives of billions across the globe. In consideration of the recent events
that have been trigged due to negative information provided on social media, it becomes
important that more effective steps are taken by the government and the civil society to contain
the potential problematic situations. There is a need to create a good platform for the effective
interactions between different people. Government control should not exceed the freedom of
expression of people on social media.

3PERSUASIVE ESSAY
References
Schneider, C. J. (2016). Policing and social media: Social control in an era of new media.
Lexington Books.
Hansen, J. M., Saridakis, G., & Benson, V. (2018). Risk, trust, and the interaction of perceived
ease of use and behavioral control in predicting consumers’ use of social media for
transactions. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 197-206.
Sisson, D. C. (2017). Control mutuality, social media, and organization-public relationships: A
study of local animal welfare organizations’ donors. Public relations review, 43(1), 179-
189.
Bradshaw, S., & Howard, P. N. (2018). Challenging truth and trust: A global inventory of
organized social media manipulation. The Computational Propaganda Project.