Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Social Media & Censorship

Is it possible to CENSOR all offensive content?

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

If so…Should it be censored?

Cases to be recognized:• #Reasonstobeatyourgirlfriend• Neo-Nazi can’t hail to Twitter • Kill Obama FaceBook page

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

#reasonstobeatyourgirlfriend

• Trending topic created on July 21, 2011• Around 2,500 tweets • Petitions were created to delete the hastag • No longer was a trending topic after the

weekend• Did Twitter have the obligation to take the

tweet down?– Didn’t break any official Twitter regulations

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Neo-Nazi Twitter Account

• First Twitter account to be censored and deleted• Banned account belongs to a German neo-Nazi • This account was only blocked in Germany

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RhrPhS56Q

• Why? – “As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that

have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there.” –Twitter

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

The murder of President Obama

• Pages have been created targeting the death of Obama as well as other politicians

• Gain a large amount of followers • Post are extremely offensive, incite harm, and

promote harm and violence

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Facebook “rules”

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Offensive memes in Social media

• Morals• Socially acceptable• Should they be removed?• Is it social media’s responsibility?

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

• Spread of global news– Egyptian uprisings

• Spread of current events– Kony2012

• Create opinions– Occupy Wall Street

• Community involvement– PRSSA Garage Sale

• Marketing/PR campaign – Promoted tweets on Twitter

• Bring about awareness– Positive and negative

With Free Speech & social media…does it inform, cause backlash, or both?

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

IS THIS FREE SPEECH?

• The First Amendment protects to a certain extent:– Can not incite harm – Can not make or distribute obscene materials – Fighting word– Hatred or violence– Advocating illegal activity

So why are these pages, tweets, and memes still widely available???

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Accountability?

• Social media should not be held responsible for societies actions.

• Where should the line be drawn between societies actions and social media administrators?

Karina Calderon & Lauren Hayes

Back to Chapt. 10

• The Paternalism Principle • The Moralism Principle • The Offense Principle???? • The Harm Principle

What’s our moral responsibility?