Awareness campaigns
Extremists groups now have the capability to spread their messages as a means for blackmailing and recruiting impressionable youth. Social networking sites have eliminated the barriers posed by geographical distances. The most recent examples can be seen by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) through their use of social media sites to recruit volunteers to come from many parts of the world including the US, the UK and Australia.
It would not be easy to impose a blanket regulation to control the content of social media. A unanimous consensus among various states on how and to what extent to exert control on social media is hard to come by because each one has their vested interests. The idea of regulating social media is like a double edged sword since it can be misused by states, but on the other hand, no control means that extremist groups take advantage of the situation as we see it today.
The most practical approach to counter the threat of extremist ideology being propagated through social media must involve long term strategy, that doesn’t curb the freedom of expression. Governments and authorities should use the same platform as extremists: create awareness on the dangerous implications of extremists’ ideas and provide opportunities for youth to be engaged in productive and progressive discussions.
Curtailing the freedom of expression through banning or controlling social sites would have far more disastrous impact on the benefits of sharing knowledge, transparency, and communication between people.
From Mr V. I. Mohammad Sageer
UAE
Needs some control
I would say that the responsibility lies with every individual. Those writing on social media have the potential to reach millions in a very short period of time. The sole purpose of having social media is to inform, share and spread information, messages and knowledge.
There has to be some sort of filtering in the social media to ensure that the wrong messages do not reach the masses as I feel that even 10 per cent of them could take it in the wrong sense, and it could make a big impact on society.
Everyone has freedom of speech, but whether that speech should reach millions or not is what needs to be assessed.
From Mr Ramaprasad M. S.
UAE
Not acceptable
Social media needs to be only used for peace and friendship. As soon as it is used for extremist messages, it is not acceptable in my opinion.
From Mr Mohammad Shoaib
UAE
Dangerous to society
I don’t think that freedom of speech should mean that anyone can advertise messages that are destructive to our society. There must be a team of religious scholars and those in the academic community giving scrutiny to messages like this at the very least.
There are a large number of people who get inspired by wrongful teachings. It leads to them acting in a way that is dangerous to our society.
From Mr Wajahat Ali
UAE
Up to the sites
It is the responsibility of the media sites to control what goes out of their pages, especially if the site has the ability to reach many people, particularly if there are security concerns. It is the site’s responsibility from the time they conceptualise their site to come out with public content.
I am all for freedom of speech if it encourages positivity, improvements, and development in society, but I loathe it when it brings about negative gossip, terrorism and bullying.
From Mr Albert Gayo
Dubai
No right to ban content
First of all, social media is open nowadays and everyone has a right to post anything. How a person feels about a group or an organisation is their own personal thoughts, and I don’t think that any government has the right to ban social media.
From Mr Ahmad Raza
UAE
Slippery slope
In my opinion, freedom of speech is more important because it is a way for people to express their frustrations and vent about their feelings that they might not feel comfortable doing in the real world.
From Mr Mahwish Tarek
UAE
The site’s problem
This is a very serious issue for the world. Social media sites are juggling with too much freedom. There should be some control and restriction for all terrorist messages, which is being spread very easily and quickly.
It’s having a very negative impact on us all. We should not allow them to use social media sites for their activity, and I think that these responsibilities belong to the site mangers. We should block the sites who publish this type of terrorist activity continuously. The recent videos in circulation of the Isil hostages being beheaded is never appropriate content for social sites.
This type of activity is filling our society with hate: it is spreading in this world and into every community.
This responsibility is with the social media sites 100 per cent. Every country should take necessary strict action against the sites showing hateful content and there should be a cyber crime law for it. We need to take strict action for any terrorist activity. Only we can try to stop this type of activity on social media right now.
From Mr Rajesh Chaturvedi
Dubai
Editors’ note: Is there a news report that you feel strongly about? Something that has to be addressed in the community and requires resolution? Email us on readers@ gulfnews.com. You can also post a comment on our Facebook page or tweet us @GNReaders.
