– FOCUS ON OFFERINGS THAT ARE ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIVE; AVOID THE SCANDALOUS AND NEGATIVE

ONE of the recent great achievements of Western Civilisation was its ushering into the world of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok and Youtube.  These platforms are well-known throughout the world and are a liberating force.  They are even used by leaders of countries for diplomatic communication. But they have a serious and disastrous effect on Society when they are misused, for example, their attacks on women and vulnerable minorities.

The perpetrators of this misuse employ hate speech, misinformation, and fake news to spew racism and hatred, stymie social and economic progress, and cause social confusion and distress. Long before social media, the Nazi media pioneered this when they demonised the Jewish People leading to the holocaust and the non-Germanic peoples of the world whom they described as ‘Untermenschen’ or subhumans or the Rwandan radio station, Mille Collines, which carried hate speech against the Tutsis resulting in the barbarous genocide of millions of innocent people.  Oftentimes, leaders and blameless prominent persons are accused of crimes, weakening governance and also deterring sections of society from going into the mainstream and taking advantage of the benefits which may be on offer.

Other perpetrators use Social Media to propagate vulgarity and crimes such as narcotic drug use, prostitution, human trafficking, and recruitment for terrorist groups in various parts of the world.  The Islamic terrorist group ISIS, for instance, has been able to recruit via Social Media thousands of innocent underage girls to be sex slaves in the Middle East.

Many who misuse  social media are very young or inexperienced people who are unaware that they are ultimately publishers reaching hundreds and even thousands and do not understand that their online actions could result in very deleterious implications offline.

Guyana has not been spared of the negative effects of social media.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently lamented those who are making money out of the negativities spewed by social media: “Social media platforms based on a business model that monetises outrage, anger, and negativity are causing untold damage to communities and societies”. . . He further went on to point out, “Our data is being bought and sold to influence our behaviour, while spyware and surveillance are out of control, all with no regard to privacy.  Artificial Intelligence is compromising the integrity of information systems, the media and indeed democracy itself . . . and we don’t have even the beginnings of a global architecture to deal with any of these.”

If the victims of unjust social media attacks try to defend themselves in any way, or even those who share their position, they are accused by a vociferous national and international lobby of being Nazis and authoritarians and against freedom of speech and expression, against national constitutions and should be ostracised.

President Dr. Irfaan Ali attempted to bring some equilibrium to this situation when he commented: “I believe in full freedom of the press.  I am open to constructive criticism . . . when we speak of freedom, we are speaking of the ability to conduct ourselves in an open, free manner.  But the ability to conduct ourselves in such a manner is within the confines of rules and the Constitution in a democratic society.”  He further underscored this: “Men and women are free, but there are limitations to which they must conform in that free society.  You are not free to harm each other, you are not free to destroy property, and you are not free to destroy character.  That is why we have laws and rules in a democratic society.”

No universal solution has so far been found to control the miscreancy of social media, but some relief may be obtained if every country were to evolve its peculiar legislation. For normal persons who may wish to make postings,   they do so after some thought and consideration and not impetuously. Most importantly, users should avoid useless and objectionable platforms which waste one’s time and concentrate on those which are enjoyable and educative,  such as platforms on music, health, history, learning a foreign language and perfecting one’s English, drama, films, world affairs and delving deeper into the treasury of other offerings.  If users become so positively and constructively involved, scandals, abuse and other negativities will have no effect.