No place for hate in cyberspace

The heyday of social media has come to an end as platforms are now being pulled up over allegations of everything from desisting to curb violent, sexist, or racist hate speech to subverting the democratic process to even disincentivising content based on political preferences.

The latest controversy to dog Facebook came from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who accused the portal, and its instant messaging platform WhatsApp, of siding with the ruling party, through its supposed indifference to the content of an incendiary nature posted by a BJP leader, that wasn’t taken down for policy violation.

Gandhi referred to an article that appeared in a reputed US publication that laid out in detail how those at the helm at Facebook, responsible for vetting content, that under normal circumstances would have been deemed inappropriate, applied a selective bias in allowing such material to pass. Just last week, violent clashes in Bengaluru, resulted in the deaths of three people and left many injured after a religiously-tinted FB post riled up members of a community.

The issue that has been raked up now is not a new one. What is novel is the implication this has on India, which is on a blitzkrieg of digitalisation. The country is the biggest market, user-base wise for both FB and WhatsApp. Now, thanks to massive investments planned here by the likes of Google ($10 bn) and Facebook ($5.7 bn in Jio), India is set to usher in a new generation of internet-savvy users.

However, a caveat that emerges from this notion of absolute power being vested in a few hands is that of absolute corruption. In 2016, Facebook attempted to offer India a telecom service called Free Basics, which created a major furore among netizens, owing to the violation of net neutrality that such a service would entail.

The idea was that all traffic on the Net should be treated equally. The social media giant has come a long way since then, having introduced a payments model on WhatsApp that is still awaiting the government’s go ahead, as well as proposing its proprietary blockchain digital currency christened as Libra.

Industry stakeholders fear that mega-corporations through their monetary might and nexus with political parties will soon lead to the creation of an echo-chamber of opinions, essentially nullifying the notion of democracy where differing perspectives can thrive.

So what’s being done to throttle such one-sided narratives? Last month, Twitter announced a few updates to its policy and closed a loophole in its rules, which makes it harder for people to spread hate speech and violent content.

Now, it’s not just the content of the tweet that gets monitored but even the content of the accompanying link. More recently, the platform made headlines when it imposed a permanent ban on David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), an American white supremacist organisation for his persistent violations through racist posts.

The upcoming months will be crucial in determining the fate of the US, as it stares at what could be one of the most definitive electoral battles in its history. Closer home in Tamil Nadu, preparations are also hotting up for the 2021 State Assembly elections.

Social media will be employed on an unprecedented scale to disseminate information, carry out campaigns as well as the broadcasting of propaganda, owing to limitations imposed due to the pandemic. So, the fact-checking divisions of social media websites will have to work overtime to curb the onslaught of fake news and divisive speech that will be part of these exercises.

However, all the checks and balances employed in making cyberspace a democratic and tolerant ecosystem will fall flat on their face unless users don’t exercise a modicum of discretion. Information has the power to ignite a spark or inflame, so when it comes to consuming or sharing, it’s finally on the users of social media to do so with caution and awareness.