Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Facebook is not free!!


           From now on, Facebook will not be free; and don’t be surprised about it. With many governments across the world deciding to regulate content on social networking websites, the ‘free’-dom of expression on Facebook and other similar websites; will cease to exist.
                               
            With Indian government deciding to follow in the footsteps, similar to that of China and Pakistan, the ideas and thoughts of an individual will be blocked from social networking websites; if the content is found to be offensive. The government says that content will be regulated in order to avoid, offending the sensibilities of people and communities.
           
            The fact of the matter is, ‘offensive content’ is an extremely subjective interpretation. While no opposition party in any democracy would oppose people expressing anti-government or anti-minister views on Facebook; the same content would be classified as ‘offensive’, by the government.  At the same time, Facebook posts and pictures upholding the slapping of a politician by a common man would be hailed as offensive by all the politicians across party lines; because it will ‘hurt’ the sensibilities of “political community”.

            Also, it is difficult to comprehend, how does the government expect the website owners to regulate the content. One of the virtues of this new medium is its viral nature. When things happen real-time, it is bound to happen that an “offensive” thought is “liked” by many users before it is blocked by the website owners. By then, the user has been able to successfully get his/her idea across to like-minded people. The government has also said that heavy fines will be levied on websites which publish objectionable content. It means, that a medium which provides a platform for free speech to the people, will be reprimanded for not actually supporting, but only airing the “offensive” views.

It is observed that the medium of social networking, like other resources, is often abused by its users. In that case, there should be self introspection and regulation by the users of the medium; but it definitely doesn’t call for the regulation of content by the government. It will almost be like the government penalizing a newspaper editor for his strong editorial views regarding a government policy or decision.

           Just like the government expects restrain from people, in expressing their views on Facebook and other websites; it should understand that the people are also bound to expect “something” from the government, its ministers and its other representatives. So, should we come up with a ‘code of conduct’ for the government and impose heavy fines on offenders. Why not?

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