Social Media Organizations Not Realizing Common Good in Society

This essay critically examines the failure of social media organizations to uphold the principles of the common good, focusing on the violation of user data privacy. Drawing upon Catholic Social Thought, the essay highlights the neglect of human dignity and social wellbeing, particularly within the context of data collection and sales. It argues that the lack of transparency and accountability in these practices undermines the shared responsibility required for a just society. The author proposes solutions involving education on human dignity, government regulation, community engagement, and user awareness to address the challenges and barriers to realizing the common good. It emphasizes the need for ethical considerations in the business models of social media companies and the importance of advocacy and policy changes to protect user data and promote responsible online behavior. The essay also references relevant literature like Gandomi & Haider (2015) and Abelson et al. (2015) to support its arguments.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
The failure of the governments to protect the safety and security of their people shows
how the shared responsibility of the common good has been neglected on a global scale. The
security and safety here is in terms of the private data that are being ‘stolen’ by social media
organizations and sold to big companies for profit (Gandomi & Haider, 2015). As mentioned in
the previous assignment, the Catholic Social Thought (CST) describes three elements of the
common good that include “respect for the individual, the social wellbeing and development of
the group and peace” (Loyno.edu, 2018). The third element that is peace refers to an equal
society where the security of the members of a society is upheld and protected. However, this
element has been largely ignored as both the government and the society has failed to protect the
security of its members. It is important to note that those who run the social media organizations
are also part of the larger society. When they sell the private data of the users without their
knowledge, they break the very foundation of the shared responsibility of the common good. As
Pope Benedict states, “The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real
needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them” (Loyno.edu, 2018). Selling of private
data without proper disclosure and knowledge by the social media organizations also breaks the
first two essentials of the common good. It severely neglects the essential element of respect for
individuals as the privacy of the users is not respected by the organizations. Further, the second
element of social wellbeing and development of the group is also put at stake because when
social media organizations sell private data of the users without the users’ knowledge, they fail to
recognize the social wellbeing of the group as a whole.
In order to overcome the challenges and barriers to realizing the common goal, it is
important for every individual to understand the significance of shared responsibility of common
good. One has to start from his or her professionally and then move on to local and global

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SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
community for bringing the change. At first, one has to know the actual meaning of the common
good. The people who manage social media organizations will have to realize that the people
they are cheating by selling their private data are their own people. According to the principles of
Catholic Social Thought, the common good and its share responsibility amongst members of the
society can be attained by an understanding of human dignity.
Within the Australian society, the recent incidences of private data leaks have garnered
huge response especially from the youth. While many have expressed concern and fear over this
issue, some sections state that they have no problem selling their data if it is within their
knowledge and profits those (Scully, 2014). However, it is important to note that most of the data
that are being sold to other companies are collected without the user’s knowledge.
With knowledge of the principles of the common good and human dignity along with
application of advocacy and community engagement, the challenges of private security can be
tackled.
Firstly, the people holding higher positions in the social media organizations within
Australia and globally must be enlightened on the principles of human dignity. This involves
understanding the human life more deeply, about the human rights, development and
empowerment. The social media itself could be made a platform where lessons on human dignity
could be spread.
Secondly, the governments have to act as guardians or saviors of public welfare
especially privacy in a much better way. Laws must be passed to regulate the social sites
including Facebook by the government. The community engagement principle under the CST

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SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
could be helpful in this case as the government could engage members of the community to
cooperate in introducing strong laws.
Thirdly, it has been observed in every part of the world that users’ data are being used by
ad and other companies to target their possible consumers. They receive all the personal
information through Facebook, which earns billions every year. Although Facebook is aware of
every single activity of its users, the users do not have any idea about Facebook’s operations.
Awareness on the CST on advocacy is very useful in bringing about changes in the existing laws
that govern social site regulations. Answering the seven questions that comprise the advocacy
principle could help largely in helping the governments introducing new laws.
Fourth, it is important for the members of the Australian society to first clean the ‘social
pollution’ that is spread through fake news and information on social sites. The social pollution
is one of the reasons for the easy access to consumer profile because users easily fall prey to
spams like quizzes, ‘know your future’ games, and so on. One of the seven questions under the
principles of advocacy asks about the issues that could be addressed by the Catholic Social
Justice and peace traditions. This includes providing the norms that base particular policy
applications. With the guidance from this advocacy, governments and those in higher positions
in social media companies could prepare the policies that instruct better communication between
users and power holders.
The Australian government has already introduced the Honest Ads Act that aligns with
the principle of the common good where honestly plays an important part. Honesty leads to
respect and this ultimately leads to the achievement of the principle of the common good where
people whether individuals or groups are allowed to fulfill their aspirations easily. However, the

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SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
act is not even near enough to protect the privacy of the people. The mostly long and obscure
documents of legal declarations provided by social media sites and applications must be made
easier for the users to read and understand.
Lastly, the governments across the globe must make an added effort to secure the
personal data of the users that are being relentlessly stolen by big firms. The integral human
development factor mentioned under human dignity principle of CST provides a valuable ground
from which, the governments could implement better strategies. It is stated by Pope Paul VI that
development of individuals must not confine only to economic but be incorporated into every
person and the whole person. The effort made by the European Union to introduce General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) is commendable but limited because of the nature of online
business (Theconversation.com, 2018). Instead of selling private data of the users, online
companies could negotiate with them and fix a deal that benefits both. In this way, they can also
uphold the principles of the common good and human dignity.
In the end, it must be mentioned that social media organizations like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and others earn huge revenues only by making people open an account in their sites.
The question is then why do they have to engage in malicious activities and deal with the privacy
of the users who put all their faith in them. The answer to this question is rooted in the way
online business is run and in the attitude of those who run it. Associating the beliefs and
principles of the Catholic Social Thought to the dealings of online business would help in
changing the mindset of these people and help authorities protect the security of its people.

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SOCIAL MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS NOT REALIZING COMMON GOOD
References:
Abelson, H., Anderson, R., Bellovin, S. M., Benaloh, J., Blaze, M., Diffie, W., ... & Rivest, R. L.
(2015). Keys under doormats: mandating insecurity by requiring government access to all
data and communications. Journal of Cybersecurity, 1(1), 69-79.
Gandomi, A., & Haider, M. (2015). Beyond the hype: Big data concepts, methods, and
analytics. International Journal of Information Management, 35(2), 137-144.
Loyno.edu. (2018). Catholic Social Thought | Jesuit Social Research Institute | Loyola University
New Orleans. Retrieved from http://www.loyno.edu/jsri/catholic-social-thought
Scully, T. (2014). The cyber security threat stops in the boardroom. Journal of business
continuity & emergency planning, 7(2), 138-148.
Theconversation.com. (2018). To serve a free society, social media must evolve beyond data
mining. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/to-serve-a-free-society-social-media-
must-evolve-beyond-data-mining-94704