Social Media Tribalism, Free Speech, and Policy Recommendations

This essay examines the issue of tribalism in social media from the perspective of a consultant for "The Online Public Square." It analyzes how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter facilitate the formation of like-minded groups, potentially leading to the spread of hatred and the erosion of free speech. The paper explores the ethical dilemmas surrounding government intervention and proposes strategies to regulate online behavior while respecting free speech principles, including forming a committee to address hate speech and identity-based attacks. The consultant recommends promoting diverse stakeholder engagement and addressing identity-based elements to manage conflict, emphasizing the importance of maintaining social media as a platform for knowledge and information exchange, free from group-based identities.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA TRIBALISM
SOCIAL MEDIA TRIBALISM
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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The aim of the paper is to analyze the issue of tribalism in social media. This paper will
be analyzing the issue from the perspective of the consultant of the social media forum, “The
Public square”. It has been observed in the recent years that the issue of social media has become
more engaging for people.
It is found out that people change their social and political stand quite soon due to the
overarching influence of the social media in their lives. In social media like the Facebook and
Twitter, like-minded people gather to support and reaffirm their beliefs and engage in some kind
of argument that not is able accepted by others in the same way (Brady et al., 2017). Hence it has
been argued that the use of social media has taken people from the path of awareness to
evangelism. This is the spread of hatred and support for one particular cause in the social media.
The purpose of the any social media is the sharing of the ideas, discovery which might shape the
opinion of people to great extent. As a consultant of the social media platform, this paper will be
analyzing the issue of strategies to be adopted to regulate this behavior and it will also be looking
into the dilemma of the government intervention for controlling free speech of the social media
platform.
Considering the issue of Alexander, it can be argued that support of one opinion might go
into the hatred for other, social media has emerged as the new platform that supports such
behavior where one group of people do not hesitate to insult or speared hatred since it is accepted
to be a correct gesture in the social media (Slate Star Codex, 2019). The idea of free speech as
explained by John Stuart Mill explains that free speech allows people to arrive at clear
conclusion and it is necessary to arrive at the truth of the world (Reeves, 2015). This brings us
another debate on the right and freedom of free speech. What Mill wanted to argue is based on
the belief that freedom of speech will guide people to arrive and reach at the core truth which is

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necessary for substance of people (Reeves, 2015). However what is interesting here to note is
that this debate is not about the freedom of free speech instead it is about the ethical aspects of
the intervention the government or the management. Hence the idea here is to look into the
possible strategies to be adopted in case of restricting freedom of speech at the social media
platforms like the Open Public Square. It is expected to develop the online platform a media for
sharing knowledge and positive outcome. As in the case of Alexander, he is of the opinion that
people tend to identify themselves with one of the groups on the basis of certain identity. One of
the current trends as explains Alexander is the problem of out grouping people. People at the
social media find it psychologically meaningful to attach themselves with one or the other
identities. This idea of groupism is harmful for the people who cannot attach them with any of
the identities. This creates a sense of false compassion for the people in the social platform since
the sense of feeling is not attached with it. It is mentioned that people at these outgroups can
exactly look like one who is not however the difference lies in the way issues are discussed.
Hence it can be argued from the above discussion that social media has emerged as one of the
recent communicative channels which encourage the formulation of groups. This is the sense of
identity based groupism that tends to promote inter-group communication and blurring of
external boundaries (Silva et al., 2015).
The organization will also be expected to monitor any growth of virtual abuse of any
individual issue. It is also to be ensured that digital topology is regulated through the proper
mechanism. This remains as platform of sharing information’s. Hence it is important to maintain
the platform free from all sorts of hatred. However it is crucial to develop sense of tolerance for
such issues freedom of speech is are relative right. It is also important to consider the fact that
there are certain barriers to overcoming tribalism. It is to be noted that decision making is not

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based on logic rather loyalty to the group hence in most of the cases, it is easy to ignore such
discussion. Moreover in case of any clash between the identities, the question arises as to
whether they are part of insider or outsider. This single differentiating factor is problematic in
context of the social media tribalism. Hence it is to be considered that intervention of the
government is not always welcome in cases like this since implementation of laws might be
impacting the freedom of free speech of people and it is considered to be against the individual
right. Therefore it can be concluded that the issue of growing tribalism can be
 Getting interested in the identity: This will help to understand the point of
view of the fundamental values of people belonging to one of these groups.
 Engagement of diverse stakeholders in order to disrupt the tribalistic
mindset of people. This will also help to understand the broader perspective of the
issue.
 It is significant to consider the fact that addressing the identity based
elements is more crucial to manage the conflict.
 Hence as the consultant of the social media platform which is facing criticism of
promoting tribalism, it is recommended that formulation of a
committee authorized to make modifications in case of spreading of hate
message or attack on someone’s identities. It will also be ensured that necessary
steps are to be undertaken in order to punish the violators of laws repeatedly
Hence it can be concluded that the use of the social media platforms for creating
identity based relationship is not a sign of a healthy development, it is important to consider the

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fact that the social media is the medium of transformation of knowledge and information and it is
expected to remain free form any form of group based identities.

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References
Slate Star Codex. (2019). Slate Star Codex. [online] Available at: https://slatestarcodex.com/
[Accessed 7 Apr. 2019].
Silva, L., Mondal, M., Correa, D., Benevenuto, F., & Weber, I. (2016, March). Analyzing the
targets of hate in online social media. In Tenth International AAAI Conference on Web and
Social Media.
Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). Emotion shapes
the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 114(28), 7313-7318.
Reeves, R. (2015). John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand. Atlantic Books Ltd.