9369 Social Media

Introduction 

Social media channels if not managed strategically, this would create ethical mistakes. Apart from personal social activities, different organizational bodies engage with their key audiences on social media channels. The information thus generated can be unfiltered damaging the accuracy of it. The main purpose of this assignment is to understand the ethical dilemma in relation to Facebook specifically. The report takes the Cleveland Shooting Highlights as the basis for it (NBC News, 2018). The study intends to give some recommendations to the company to help it become more ethical and secured for its users.  

Discuss whether or not Facebook has a legal or ethical duty to rescue a crime victim 

No, Facebook does not have any legal responsibility to rescue a crime victim. However, it has by virtue of ethical and moral standards that apply to people, communities, and organizations belonging to a society. Facebook is one of the social media channels that is being used to interact with people and follow the communities and groups. However, Facebook can still contribute if it could know the case in real-time. This is possible in case when the case or a crime does not happen instantly but lasts for hours or a day. In such a situation, Facebook could certainly notify the case to the legal body. The law enforcement procedure should rather be dealt with the crime (Stohl et al., 2017).

Three (3) ways that social media platforms can be more proactive

Facebook needs to be proactive and thorough as well with their content review strategies. Facebook can do it by adhering to a code of conduct. Facebook already provides a highly secured platform to its users and their data when they use it. The browsing is secured on Facebook. Messages and posts are encrypted to disallow unauthorized accesses to the content. Facebook also sets the priority to delete the spams. However, there are still more ways using which Facebook can further the security for its users. Those few steps are (Voshel & Wesala, 2015):

Giving an option like “contacting the help center in case the account has been hacked”

Option to change the current password

Notifying of an access when someone from an unrecognized device or website logging in to the account

The alert can notify about the device being used and also the location of the unauthorized user. Proactively, Facebook does not encourage or allow users to exchange nudity, sexually suggestive content, deceptive profiles, hate speech, excessive violence contents and threats of attacks on individuals or groups. Facebook should do one thing, which is to publically declare their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This also includes but not limited to their service terms for users. Users are also notified of any changes being made to the guidelines and policies on the “Site Governance Page” (Voshel & Wesala, 2015).

Propose two safeguards that Facebook and other social media platforms

One of the safeguards that Facebook and other social media channels should put into place is to prevent acts of violence from appearing or being broadcasted on the platform by continually monitoring the posts and data. This is manually challenging and would also require a huge manpower. However, this is relatively easier a process if Facebook uses a software to detect, identify and delete the activities containing the violence. The government censorship should also be imposed to prevent and discourage an access to violence. The monitoring process should also include the removal of graphics from posts containing and promoting violence (Chell et al., 2016).

Determine whether or not Facebook has an Ethics Officer or Oversight Committee.

Facebook has an Oversight Committee. The committee is engaged in representing or promoting the interest of communities on Facebook. The committee also communicates the ethical policies, rules, and norms of the company. One of the purposes of the ‘Oversight Committee’ is to enforce policies, laws, and guidelines to the “Community Standards”. The committee is also responsible for investigating violations and complaints. The committee offers constructive criticism to unethical activities by using ethics-based training to provide the resolution. On top of all, the Oversight Committee bears the power to penalize any abuse being made to the community standard and the rules of regulation (Coughlan & Perryman, 2015).

Propose two changes Facebook should adopt to encourage ethical use of their platform

One of the changes that Facebook should go for is to ensure that every user signs and agree to a code of conduct. The code of conduct will outline what users can or cannot do. They will be guided towards the posts to upload and to avoid. On a similar note, users will also be instructed about the live stream that they can or cannot. It is very necessary to declare such things because in future if so ever Facebook is linked with any act of violence such as the “Cleveland Shooting Highlights”, they remain safe from any mass crisis (NBC News, 2018).  

The second change that Facebook can adapt to is to cancel accounts those that are found deemed unethical. A cancellation of accounts this way would not just stop unsocial activities from becoming a part of the Facebook but, would also communicate a very good message in favor of the company.  

Conclusion 

Therefore, Facebook is not bound with any legal duty to be held responsible to rescue a crime victim. There are a few ways such as those three mentioned in this report using which social media such as Facebook can become more proactive and through also in dealing with content that appears on their platform. Facebook can also avoid acts of violence from being broadcasted by using two safeguards such as those mentioned in this study. Facebook must ask its users to sign a code of conduct to help it avoid from being a part of any crime. Facebook should also cancel all accounts those that appear unethical.

References 

Chell, E., Spence, L. J., Perrini, F., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Social entrepreneurship and business ethics: Does social equal ethical?. Journal of business ethics, 133(4), 619-625.

Coughlan, T., & Perryman, L. A. (2015). A murky business: navigating the ethics of educational research in Facebook groups. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-learning, 146-169.

NBC News. (2018). Facebook has a unique challenge in policing depraved videos. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/cleveland-shooting-highlights-facebook-s-responsibility-policing-depraved-videos-n747306

Stohl, C., Etter, M., Banghart, S., & Woo, D. (2017). Social media policies: Implications for contemporary notions of corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 142(3), 413-436.

Voshel, E. H., & Wesala, A. (2015). Social media & social work ethics: Determining best practices in an ambiguous reality. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 12(1), 67-76.