Limits on Social Media Posts

Imagine: Your mom is a reporter for your town’s local news station. She’s been on a job for over a year reporting about major issues going on around the world; her trip was only expected to last 8 months. You haven’t heard from her in forever and begin to worry. About one month later a video of foreigners from where she has been captured have sliced her body apart and killed her appears online. While the death of your mother is a problem, the bigger problem is the video going viral. What is posted on social media websites is a huge reflection of how we express ourselves and is often referred to as part of our freedom speech. “Should there be a limit on social media postings?” This may sound like a silly question but in many cases it is not. The things people post on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube can often be very harmful and offensive to citizens and their environment.

Although social media can be used to keep in touch or spread important and helpful information there are many risks of using social media sites. These risks include cyber bulling or harassment, spreading of false information, encouraging violence and offensive messages or posts. An article I found on nobullying.com tells a story of a fourteen year old girl named Megan. The story starts by saying that Megan had always had weight problem which caused a struggle in her social life, but Megan had met a boy on an old social media website called Myspace. Megan’s life began to improve until her best friend that had recently moved away started telling her new online boyfriend terrible secrets about Megan through Myspace messages. One night while Megan’s mother was cooking dinner for the family Megan decided to take her own life because of the way this boy and her friend had treated her; they later found out this “boyfriend” wasn’t even real. This is just one example where social media is used in a negative way and is taken way too far. Things like this happen every day and everywhere, even in our own communities and schools. We are often just too oblivious to see them.  Our government should keep a better regulation of social media content and what is going on so they will be able to enforce and regulate limits.

“The Legal Challenges off Social Media to Freedom of Expression-December 2013” is an article by the University of Leicester. Professor Eric Barendt from UCL says that social media sites allow people to anonymously post things they want to be seen.   Since a person realizes they are unidentified they will often spread false information, encourage violence and say out of context ideas. Professor Lorna Woods from Essex says there are three possible problems with how to limit social media:  clearly defining “expression” in the first amendment, how to identify the user of the site and deciding who can these limits be enforced upon and by whom. These professors made great points, but with this being said we must realize our NSA (National Security Agency) has around ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND workers. Although this agency has many responsibilities it should be one of their major duties to regulate social media websites.

Our community (Frankfort, Kentucky) recently lost a 2014 graduate because of social media posts. The Courier Journal posted an article on what happened during this event. Mayor Greg Fischer stated, “One lesson is that people really need to be careful what they say on social media.” A high school student in Louisville was behind the rumored real life rendition of the film “The Purge”. He posted inappropriate and false information about an event that wasn’t even going to take place. Surrounding areas were put into shock and uproar because of this student’s tweet. Other negative side effects included our Glo dance being postponed, lower attendance that night at the state fair and the cancelation of many high school football games. The article states,  “There is a thing called freedom of Speech, but with that comes responsibility.” The freedom of Speech and Expression, also known as part of the First Amendment, is often taken advantage of. Where do we draw the limit? How many more incidents need to occur before we put a stop to over powering and inappropriate social media posts?

Re-Imagine the story I mentioned at the beginning. Wait! You don’t have to imagine, a story just like this recently happened. About two weeks ago a mother of a U.S. journalist was on the news speaking about a video she has seen of her son’s head being chopped off and his body being tortured. Not only is this horrific for a child’s mother to see, but it is terrible for any human being to see.  The video should never have been posted or accessible to anyone online, but because of our “unlimited” Freedom of Speech how can we really stop this from happening. The stories I’ve told are just a few out of millions that have happened. If we put a limit on social media websites things can only change for the better!

-Haley Harrod

Western Hills High School