Issues of Social Media (amplified by Mobile Apps) Part 1

Several issues emerged after the inception of mobile apps. One of which will be discussed in this blog post is the possibility of hate speech being amplified through social media. As mentioned in the previous post, mobile apps are catalysts for social media in Malaysia. It has made social media so easily accessible that it is now the main platform for the access of social media, especially among the young. This is seen in platforms such as Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress and Twitter. 

This was the theme of discussion among professionals of different fields in Cafe Latte Chat, a dialogue that was organised in 2013. Some has suggested that social media (driven by the ease of availability due to mobile apps), merely provides a reflection of society, that these were thoughts that people always had and now had the avenue to have their voices heard. Others suggested that real life when speaking face to face, people tend to have boundaries and limitations. On the other hand, going online allows them to speak freely without censorship and the ease of doing that has reduced the consideration of consequences of what they post. It was however a common understanding among the subjects of that dialogue that hate speech is frequently and easily found through social media in Malaysia. 

 Another issue that was discussed is that false news or slander is easily spread through social media, (again the ease of spread is made easier due to mobile apps that are available at Malaysians' fingertips). Some suggested that these false news may be self-regulatory while others suggested that the medium of self-regulatory is when people correct the mistake and by then, it could be too late since the news may be already viral news. When asked about the laws of Malaysia protecting citizens of defamation and slander, some suggested existing laws are too general and are not as effective as expected but the lawyer of the dialogue suggested that it is sufficient. 

Our group agree on the two issues social media (fueled by the availability of mobile apps) pose to Malaysians are indeed very real and some of us experienced first hand some of these issues. Hate speech are easily seen when it comes to racial or religious issues, especially by extremists of religion or race. False news disguised as real too are easily available on different platforms that it takes an experienced eye to decipher between real and false news. Users of social media (and mobile apps users) should be vary of these issues and take all news with a pinch of salt, verify the legitimacy of an article before sharing it out. Also, they should also condemn those who speak and want to impose extremists views in order to make the Internet a better place. 

The dialogue referenced above may be found here.

Photo credits: 
http://www.returnofkings.com/49279/freedom-of-speech-is-dying-in-sweden
http://mediacriminaljustice.blogspot.com/2011/03/fox-news-caught-using-false-news.html
Author: Florence Chong (B1402193)