The Facebook Dilemma: Social Responsibility and Ethical Concerns

This report delves into the social responsibility challenges faced by Facebook, analyzing the ethical dilemmas arising from its vast influence and the spread of misinformation, fake news, and hate speech. The report identifies Mark Zuckerberg and other key figures, including Sheryl Sandberg and Roger McNamee, who played significant roles in the company's development and its response to emerging issues. It emphasizes the need for regulations to protect user data, combat misinformation, and promote media literacy. The report discusses the defense strategies employed by Facebook executives and government officials in response to crises like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, highlighting the delayed recognition of the detrimental impacts of unregulated technological expansion. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of virtual literacy to harness the positive aspects of technology while mitigating its negative consequences, such as its role in conflicts and the manipulation of public opinion. The report uses references to support its arguments.

Running Head: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FACEBOOK DILEMMA
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FACEBOOK DILEMMA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Name

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Answer to question 1:
The main content of both the videos primarily surrounds around how technology can be
a dangerous weapon to curb democracy if not regulated in the right direction. Facebook the
social networking site always operated with one single vision to connect the world. It always
recognized its potentials to build connectivity however never acknowledged the potential
dangerous of spreading misinformation, fake news and hate speech (Bode, Leticia, and Emily).
The main ethical concern surrounded around the strong influence that Facebook has over such a
huge population but never considered to keep a check on what was being propagated by the
medium.
Answer to question 2:
The main person who is behind the expansion of this whole technological extension of virtual
connectivity is Mark Zuckerberg, as Facebook is rightfully considered his brain child. However
along with him there are several other board of directors including Sheryl Sandberg the chief
operating officer of Facebook, Naomi Gleit the Vice president of social good of and one oldest
employee of Facebook Inc. she was the one who had witnessed several outbreaks and outrages
which was basically due to the irresponsible and slow addressing of vital problems like spreading
of misinformation by Facebook. Along with them the video brings forth an early Facebook
analyst Roger McNamee ("The Facebook Dilemma (Part One) | Season 37 Episode 4 |
FRONTLINE") who recognized the potential danger Facebook was bringing along with it and
tried to warn the company about the same
Answer to question 3:
Companies like Facebook which receives an unprecedented popularity among the
growing population must consider certain regulations while operating on such a large scale. The
primary responsibility of any social networking site like Facebook is to ascertain strong security
of personal data of each and every user. It must foster a sense of responsibility among every
individual who are connected through this social networking site to understand how the spread of
misinformation or fake news can be devastating to each and every individual and the country as a
whole (Townsend, Leanne, and Claire). These technology companies must consider revising

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their policies regarding what information is getting viral and check on the authenticity of every
information to help reduce the chances of spreading hate speech and disrupting the whole social
system.
It is vital for these companies to educate the mass regarding how personal information
can be used to manipulate and bring wrong influence because the users need to be equipped with
theses necessary information and have theses general knowledge to aware and protect them from
being misguided.
Answer to question 4:
The business people including core members of the organization along with the
government officials defended the plight of such a severe crisis condition with one single
justification that they were quite delayed in recognizing how dreadful can be the impact of
technological expansion if it goes unregulated and unrecognized ("The Facebook Dilemma
(Part Two) | Season 37 Episode 5 | FRONTLINE"). The government officials continuously
investigated and monitored the agencies who were actively or passively involved in the data
broking business with Facebook and raised warning for the company to take control of the whole
situation. However Facebook turned a deaf ear to the whole situation and just focused on
further expansion and its profit figures. Finally when Facebook was held responsible for the data
breach scandal in the year 2018, and was called in front of the Congress, Mark Zuckerberg in
front of the whole population begged forgiveness and once again accounted the whole situation
to be a result of delayed responses by the company officials who were not prompt enough to take
adequate charges in the crisis situation (Common, MacKenzie).
Answer to question 5:
Technology can only considered as a boon in a society who is well equipped to handle it
and make a wise and judicious use of the same. Power without proper knowledge often brings in
massive devastating consequences which was exactly the scenario with Facebook. Facebook was
meant to connect the world, building network for uplifting positive actions however the lack of
proper knowledge and awareness of how technology should be used led to such devastating
impacts like the Myanmar war, the Srilankan War, bringing wrong influence in the 2016 US

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presidential elections and altogether spreading misinformation and hate speech like
wildfire(Gunaratna, Rohan). Thus to address this situations the society needs to understand and
consider the aspect of virtual literacy to harness the actual power of this virtual world and not let
it over power us. Basic awareness, knowledge coupled with proper understanding of the
technology can be the sole answer to these challenges.

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References:
"The Facebook Dilemma (Part One) | Season 37 Episode 4 | FRONTLINE". PBS.Org, 2019,
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-facebook-dilemma-part-one-s43cuc/. Accessed 8 July 2019.
"The Facebook Dilemma (Part Two) | Season 37 Episode 5 | FRONTLINE". PBS.Org, 2019,
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-facebook-dilemma-part-two-iev1xh/. Accessed 8 July 2019.
Bode, Leticia, and Emily K. Vraga. "In related news, that was wrong: The correction of
misinformation through related stories functionality in social media." Journal of
Communication 65.4 (2015): 619-638.
Common, MacKenzie F. "Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: let this be the high-water mark
for impunity." LSE Business Review (2018).
Gunaratna, Rohan. "A Face among the Crowd: Profiling the Man behind the Foiled Plot to
Attack Myanmar s Embassy in Jakarta." Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 5.6 (2013): 3-6.
Townsend, Leanne, and Claire Wallace. "Social media research: A guide to ethics." Aberdeen:
University of Aberdeen (2016).

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Walker, J. T., & Zawisza, T. T. (2014). Social disorganization theory. The Encyclopedia of
Theoretical Criminology, 1-9.
Common, MacKenzie F. "Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: let this be the high-water mark for
impunity." LSE Business Review (2018).