Angela Ding
1/27/2025 03:30:32 pm
I believe that the government should not censor social media at all because it goes against the first amendment. According to Bookings.edu, "Social media companies are all private businesses with discretion over the content they wish to promote, and any effort by government to influence what social media platforms promote risks violating the First Amendment." Though these social media platforms may not contain the most ideal content, these companies and users of the app have their rights to post what they want. If the government censored social media, our rights of free speech and more would potentially be violated, and the government would be hiding us from the "truth". That is why I believe that even though social media may be harmful, the government should not censor it.
Reply
Navin Kunnimalaiyaan
1/30/2025 07:30:46 am
I firmly believe that the government should NOT censor social media as it goes against the first amendment which states freedom of speech, I also think that social media is our only free place in which we are more interconnected with each other which also being ourselves. This is shown as statements or images may make a 2 people friends by just laughing or simply being themselves. Social media is the substantial basis in which it connects one another by sending reels or memes or just texting or talking. This is also a place in which we can just be ourselves and express our true feelings for one another. This is why I think the government should not censor social media.
Reply
1/31/2025 10:11:43 am
I believe the government should not censor social media because it would violate the First Amendment. According to Brookings.edu, social media companies are private businesses that have the right to decide what content they promote, and any government interference in this process could infringe on free speech rights. While social media may not always feature ideal content, both the platforms and their users have the right to express themselves freely. Government censorship could restrict our freedom of speech and potentially conceal important information from the public. Therefore, despite its potential harms, social media should remain free from government control.
Reply
I do not think the government should censor social media since it is a violation of our first amendment rights. According to the ACLU, "It’s also not allowable for that representative to create a social media page and then restrict people with critical viewpoints from posting or viewing content." The ACLU views a social media page like X as the virtual equivalent of a public townhall meeting, something that the First Amendment allows people to do. If the government did go through and censor social media, it'd set a precedent by breaking a law that was tantamount to this nation, allowing for other politicians to come through break more of them. In conclusion, censorship would not only break our first amendment, but also could possibly inspire others to break more of them.
Reply
Sanjiv Thangaraj
1/30/2025 06:18:25 am
I believe the government should implement censorship to a moderate extent on social media to strike a balance between protecting free speech and safeguarding citizens from harmful content. According to the University of Houston Downtown, when describing the impact of social media on public life, UHD states that social media reunites "lost family members [helps] people keep in touch with people who live far away, [helps] find organ donors, and [encourages] people to acquire new skills" however "the usage of social media seems to be correlated with online harassment and increased division between people."
Reply
1/27/2025 07:03:53 pm
Reply
Brandon Tran
1/27/2025 08:03:19 pm
I believe the government should not heavily censor social media because such actions are ultimately "dangerous and futile" to society. According to "brookings.edu," censorship often leads to chaos, as people protest when they are unable to express or act on their beliefs. With countless diverse ideas in the world, censoring even one perspective can create significant tension within society and may even lead to rebellion. Moreover, censorship often backfires by eroding trust in authorities and pushing suppressed ideas into underground spaces, making them harder to monitor. Instead of fostering unity, it deepens divisions and breeds resentment among those silenced. A more effective solution is to promote open dialogue and digital literacy, enabling individuals to critically evaluate information rather than restricting access to it.
Reply
Shailee Mahajan
1/29/2025 09:04:32 am
I believe that the government should not censor social media because doing so would violate our right to freedom of speech and expression as stated in the 1st Amendment. According to ACLU of Southern California act of "censoring individuals from these pages through blocking accounts or deleting comments can be an unconstitutional restriction on their right to free speech", which undermines the whole purpose of social media, which is to act as a "public forum" where individuals can express their thoughts freely. People may disagree with these thoughts, however conflicting ideas are inevitable due to the diverse nature of people's ideas. Though some thoughts on social media could be harmful, governments should try to mitigate this through education and awareness, not by forcefully removing content that they don't want people to see.
Reply
Shaili Nahar
1/29/2025 04:04:57 pm
The government should not censor social media at all as that would be a violation of the First Amendment, which protects free speech. According to an article in Brookings, "Social media companies are all private businesses with discretion over the content they wish to promote, and any effort by government to influence what social media platforms promote risks violating the First Amendment." This evidence highlights that social media companies operate as private businesses with the right to control their own content. Government intervention in their content moderation could infringe on First Amendment rights, undermining the core principle of free speech.
Reply
Yashita Gandhi
1/29/2025 04:16:28 pm
I believe that the government should not censor social media at all because it goes against the right of citizens. It violates our rules of the 1st Amendment and restricts our freedom of speech. According to Brookings.edu"the government intervention that they propose is potentially more damaging than the problem they want to solve." This proves that the government would do more harm than good, and it would lead to many uprisings and protests. In conclusion, the government should not censor social media as creativity and many businesses will be disrupted, along with our freedom of speech.
Reply
Camila Armenta
1/29/2025 04:39:09 pm
The government should not censor social media. As the United States Constitution states through the First Amendment, people have freedom of speech. As a society full of diverse and complicated human beings, many have their personal options and beliefs. Expressing those values should not be reprimanded by the government. Of course, there are exceptions such as threatening to harm others, sharing inappropriate content, or promoting illegal actions. Although, censorship of such content should be on the shoulders of the application used to spread that information. According to Brookings.edu, “ Social media companies are all private businesses with discretion over the content they wish to promote.” Applications have their own regulations which users must follow and if not they get reprimanded through action such as being banned. These simple repremandments are a small step compared to involving the government, but they can be just as effective and, overall, less messy. The government should get involved when a crime has been committed, not when a user wants to share their values.
Reply
Moyoninuoluwa Doherty
1/29/2025 06:18:06 pm
The government should carefully balance the need to censor social media to protect public safety and the importance of preserving free speech. Censorship can help prevent the spread of violence, hate speech, and misinformation that could harm society. However, excessive censorship can stifle the exchange of ideas and infringe on personal freedoms. Therefore, regulations should be designed to protect individuals without overly restricting their right to express themselves.
Reply
Alex Song
1/29/2025 08:13:20 pm
The government should have the right to ban apps or websites, but not silence comments or personal speech. This is because it infringes on one's first amendment rights. Furthermore, we can look at Tik-Tok, it clearly made people upset and a bunch of tiktokers now need to get a job. Therefore the banning or censoring of certain apps should not be treated lightly and the 2 year period of its ban was a clear oversight. So no, the government should not with hold the right to ban or censor social media
Reply
Sai Laasyasri Potta
1/29/2025 09:24:54 pm
The government should minimally censor social media because if the government censored media, it would contradict with the right of freedom of speech of a citizen. For instance, the first amendment of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution as per national archives, clarifies that the first amendment provides freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. Since social media is a platform where people of the population can express personal opinions, censoring (examining before release to the public on social media) would go against freedom of speech since certain restrictions on what is placed before the public eye may be placed. Those restrictions that may be placed by the government may selectively choose who can freely express their point of views and what can be expressed online, resulting in conflict with the right of freedom of speech. Additionally, as per brookings.edu, "the First Amendment protects against censorship by government. Social media companies are all private businesses with discretion over the content they wish to promote, and any effort by government to influence what social media platforms promote risks violating the First Amendment". This further confirms that any type of government intervention into censorship of social media would lead to the violation of the basic democratic principle of free speech. Since freedom of speech is an important democratic principle, the government should respect it and therefore, should not censor social media in order to preserve democratic principles. To conclude, the government should minimally censor social media because if the government censored media, it would contradict with the right of freedom of speech of a citizen.
Reply
The government should minimally censor social media. The public should have their own rights and opinions and it should not be taken away by censoring. It gives people to share their own views and know what is going on about the outside world. Yes, there is some content that should be censored as there are little children till the age of 7 now having access to social media, it should be sorted out and have age restrictions while also giving minors their own rights of speech. People promote their products and their business on social media which is a right they have and us consumers buy these products by our own choice. For example, President Trump himself uses social media for his own favor and gains his popularity and votes among these more younger generations, in his favor that helped him in elections. The amount of diversity social media creates is a way for people to express their own thoughts and creativity to the world showing their own point of view. Lastly, People even say "It suggests, at a minimum, the need for a regime of transparency and disclosure to prevent mission creep and political manipulation." (Forbes), practically stating that if the government does censor social media it gives them a way to manipulate us citizens and limit out First Amendment rights. Changing our views in their favor.
Reply
1/30/2025 04:05:22 am
Government censorship of social media is a complex issue that requires balancing the protection of free speech with the need to prevent harm. For instance, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that when government officials block individuals on social media based on their viewpoints, it violates the First Amendment rights of access and free expression. Therefore, government intervention should be carefully considered to avoid infringing constitutional rights. However, some regulation may be necessary to curb misinformation, hate speech, and threats to public safety while still upholding democratic principles.
Reply
Noor khan
1/30/2025 06:18:01 am
I think that there should be no government censorship on social media. For example, the first amendment of the constitution gives the right to all American citizens to have free speech and restrict government censorship. Social media companies are also all private businesses meaning they have the control to monitor their content and not the government.
Reply
Salema Teklay
1/30/2025 07:10:15 am
I think that there should be some government censorship on social media because of criminals who use social media to their advantage. This being said beside for the use of criminals the government should not be able to censor social media because it violates American rights and doesn't actually have any effect. Americans should be able to have the freedom of speech to express their beliefs freely and should not have the government come in their way. Government censorship on social media is a form of oppression. ACLU believes that censorship violates the first amendment. For example they state"Censoring individuals from these pages through blocking accounts or deleting comments can be an unconstitutional restriction on their right to free speech under the First Amendment."
Reply
I believe that the government should censor social media to a certain extent because of the open access to explicit content displayed to underage young children. According to ala.org, "Only that expression that is shown to belong to a few narrow categories of speech is not protected by the First Amendment. The categories of unprotected speech include obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising, true threats, and fighting words." . Although the first amendment rights protect one's freedom of speech, some aspects of it, such as hate speech and misinformation can cause harm to an individual on the internet. It also causes harm to the young children who have access to the internet, and censorship to certain subjects is a way to protect them and other adults from potential harmful content.
Reply
1/30/2025 05:19:39 pm
The government should not censor social media at all because it is an obstruction of free speech as well as free expression. For example, censoring social media can block peoples' self expression by limiting the types of media they can produce as well as consume. brookings.edu claims that social media users feel as though ¨their freedom of speech is being undermined by social media companies who censor their voice.¨ This is a clear violation of the first amendment as censorship does not allow people to freely express themselves or their opinions via social media platforms. Therefore, the government should not censor social media platforms.
Reply
Tatiana Reyes
1/30/2025 05:29:50 pm
I believe that the government should not be able to completely ban social media or platforms for free speech, as many forms of communication commence on these sites. According to the first amendment in the U.S. Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." The ability to post information freely and the consequent consumption of uncensored media is a constitutional right, so to censor or take down platforms that allow for such free speech to happen is unconstitutional. Additionally, this can be substantiated by the Supreme Court, in which they held that “the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom.” [Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)]
Reply
Ishan Narkar
1/30/2025 06:22:54 pm
The government should only censor social media when it is necessary to prevent serious harm such as terrorism. I agree it’s important to stop misinformation and to protect people, but too much government control could limit free speech which would violate the first amendment. This can also be used to silence opposing views. I believe instead of censorship, social media companies should maybe enforce fair content policies. The balance between safety and free speech is important so rather than controlling what people can say online, the government could work with platforms to keep social media safe and open for discussion.
Reply
Saxa EscobedoPestova
1/30/2025 06:35:05 pm
I strongly feel that the government shoudn't censor social media because it would violate our 1st Amendment right, which protects our freedom of speech. Social media is a place where people can just be themselves, and share their opinions and ideas with other people. If the government censored social media it woudn't be the same and could limit communicaton with people all around the world. Now yes social media has harmful or illegal content that needs to be controlled, but social media platforms could just handle those problems by themselves, not the government. In conclusion its important that we all have freedom of speech because that's how democracy is made and helps our society grow and be more open minded.
Reply
Maria Clara De Aguiar Sampaio
1/30/2025 06:42:39 pm
In my opinion, the government should not censor social media to any extent because I believe this is in violation of the first amendment rights of American citizens. According to the United States Constitution's first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". The censorship of social media would be abridging one's freedom of speech because it is an outlet where people can communicate and socialize with others as well as express themselves and their opinions with it's censorship preventing people's voices being heard. In turn, the ability to freely post and express your feelings, opinions, or whatever it may be is a right according to the U.S. Constitution, therefore banning any apps or platforms that allow this freedom of expression and speech would be considered unconstitutional. I also believe that there are bigger, worse problems going on in the world right now like global warming and climate change which is in much more need for the government's immediate attention.
Reply
Zahra Gheewalla
1/30/2025 08:05:10 pm
The government should censor social media to protect national security and preserve peaceful diplomatic relations with other nations. Social media platforms are often used to spread misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda, which can destabilize political systems and provoke international conflicts. An example of this occurred during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when Russian operatives used social media to spread divisive content and influence the outcome of the election. By censoring certain content, the government can block harmful material that could fuel terrorism, political unrest, or internal divisions. Additionally, protecting national security through social media censorship makes sure that sensitive information, such as military operations or state secrets, isn’t compromised. This is particularly important today because digital espionage and cyberattacks are increasingly common. In addition, suppressing content that undermines diplomatic efforts or strains relationships between countries maintains peaceful international relations. For example, social media platforms were a huge factor in spreading inflammatory content during the 2019 India-Pakistan conflict, further heightening tensions between the two nations. Ultimately, government regulation can prevent the spread of dangerous ideas that could spark unnecessary conflicts, creating a safer, more secure environment both domestically and internationally.
Reply
1/30/2025 08:36:37 pm
I think that the government should censor social media to a moderate extent because censorship is able to maintain a safe space online, yet it can also suppress speech. According to chekkee, censorship allows "users [to] interact with others without the fear of getting bullied or harassed or running into distressing forms of content". With a safe environment, people can navigate and surf social media freely, allowing for quality time while online. Not only that, people can happily interact with others without a fear of being threatened or cursed out. However, according to chekkee, "When certain topics are censored, it can limit the flow of open dialogue and impede the democratic exchange of dissenting ideas and opinions. Consequently, this can create echo chambers that only tolerate certain perspectives, narrowing the space for constructive arguments". The limitation of open dialogue would not only "impede the democratic exchange", it would also be able to restrict others of their preferred media as every person has different sensitive topics. While there are both pros and cons to censoring social media, it is best to take the middle and have a moderate censorship to not only create a safe space for people to interact on social media, but to also prevent the restriction of free speech and ideas.
Reply
Zuhair Sidiq
1/30/2025 08:47:28 pm
I believe social media should not censor social media. Despite the fact that doing so would violate our first amendment rights as many of my peers have written, it is also important to highlight the widespread availability of news content on these social media platforms. Although it is true that everyone is biased no matter how much they may deny it, social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram provide diverse point of views on situations that truly help people question the validity of what they may hear on mainstream media. Jieblo Lou, a researcher at the University of Rochester, said, "For consumers, it’s useful to know this information because the echo chamber effect is very strong and people are used to only listening to things they like to hear." After doing his research on media headlines, he began to understand the consistent reporting by certain news outlets on certain topics. If people in our society only listen to one source that echos their perspective and are restricted to what is only reported by secondary sources on TV, what is stopping a dictatorship? Overall, it's important, especially in this day and age, to understand the value in examining all viewpoints and questioning anything you may see whether it be on TV or on social media, as anyone can be biased and spread misinformation easier than ever.
Reply
Zuhair Sidiq
1/30/2025 08:48:24 pm
Source: https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/study-of-headlines-shows-media-bias-growing-563502/
Reply
Yash Ganatra
1/30/2025 09:14:37 pm
Reply
Emily Zhang
1/30/2025 09:44:39 pm
The government should censor social media but only to a limited extent as there are potential consequences with over-censorship. While some moderation is needed to protect people from harmful content, such as violence, increased censorship doesn’t necessarily lead to better outcomes. For example, The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reported that 64% of Americans don't trust the government to make fair decisions about what information is allowed to be posted on social media platforms. Not only would censorship violate free speech, but it will likely cause people, fearing being punished, to avoid sharing their opinions or participating in discussions online thus creating an environment where fewer viewpoints are shared. Overall, while moderation to a certain extent can help with making social media safer, the government should limit its interference so that our diverse voices and opinions can be heard.
Reply
1/31/2025 05:48:35 am
I believe the government should not have the right to censor social media as it is a violation of our first amedement rights. According to constitution.congress.gov, " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." In conclusion, the government has no right to censor social media because it would be a violation of our freedom of speech.
Reply
Tanya Moein
1/31/2025 09:21:16 am
I believe the government should not regulate social media in terms of censorship, even to protect children from explicit content. While the internet does give access to material that can be harmful, especially for younger audiences, the principle of free speech is a core value. The First Amendment guarantees the right to express ideas, and regulating speech could open the door to overreach. Instead of censorship, other measures like parental controls or better education on online safety could be more effective ways to protect children from inappropriate content. Allowing unrestricted access to speech helps maintain the freedom of expression, even if some material can be controversial.
Reply
Damian Valdes
1/31/2025 09:40:24 am
I believe the government should not censor any social media to any extent. The first amendment right solidified so long ago states we have a right to free speech. This makes no exception to the internet. Althought misinformation may run free, it is still a part of free speech. Especially when there are many preventive measures individuals can take themselves to block out harmful content to them or others, with so many available options available across many websites.
Reply
Eshal Khemani
1/31/2025 10:16:21 am
The government should not censor social media since it can harm free speech rights and democracy. When governments control what people say online, they may go too far and silence important voices. Brookings. edu states that "any effort by government to influence what social media platforms promote risks violating the First Amendment." Censorship also makes people afraid to share their opinions, which weakens public discussion. In conclusion, the government should not censor social media because it would infringe on our right to free speech.
Reply
Lillian Kolodny
1/31/2025 10:35:21 am
I don't believe that the government should be able to censor our social media. Within the Constitution, we are given the right to freedom of speech and press. According to Brookings.edu, "Social media companies are all private businesses with discretion over the content they wish to promote... government to influence...violating the First Amendment." By restricting our media, the government is restricting their promise to uphold the Constitution which leads to major corruption within the government. Additionally, the government can also over-censor it and start producing videos that only sway its citizens one way or another. Although social media is all good, it should be up to citizens to decide whether or not they want the influence of social media in their lives, not the government's.
Reply
Kit Nguyen
1/31/2025 11:59:47 am
I don't believe the government should regulate social media, due to the fact freedom of speech is within our rights of the constitution According to Cato institution, by censoring the media we consume, "regulation may also violate the individual’s right to free speech,the regulation of which is presumed constitutional." Social media allows us to share our opinions freely, and by removing that freedom it goes against our rights.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
RULES1. Respond to the MOST RECENT discussion question or another student's comment within that feed. Archives
January 2025
Categories |