Social media is being used in unprecedented ways today. While it has helped people to communicate from across the world. It is also an important tool in influencing thoughts and ideas of people. People today can use social media to share all sorts of information to a larger and wider audience. While that is beneficial in some instances, from a governmental perspective, it can pose a challenge. This is because social media can spread misinformation that can lead to social discord. Thus, it can be said that social media poses serious challenges for governments because the government has little control over social media platforms.
Social media is an unregulated platform with widespread reach which is a serious challenge for the governments. Today, billions of people use the internet and have access to social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All these platforms display information that can influence people to a large extent. Currently, there are no laws that are meant to regulate these platforms. Governments believe these platforms are very popular and have a massive outreach which directly influences people. For example, during the Arab Spring social media played an instrumental role in spreading awareness. Recently, a US teenager’s TikTok video went viral about the Muslims being put under concentration camps, the video raised awareness about the treatment of Uighur Muslims. Though social media in these instances has often exposed the role of authoritarian governments. There is no denying that governments of these countries have faced immense challenges in controlling these platforms. This is evident from the fact that even after placing bans on Facebook and Instagram in countries like China, people have found workarounds and use Virtual Private Networks (VPN) to access these platforms. Thus, social media poses a serious challenge for governments who want to establish dominance over its people.
Social media use does not lead to mass revolt, but it could still pose a challenge as an arena in which dangerous ideas circulate. Social media has been used by various terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-E-Taiba in the past. In recent times, ISIS is fighting an online cyberwar, with the use of violent videos, online messages of hate and aim to radicalise and create a new generation of cyber jihadists. Similarly, the Christchurch shootings were orchestrated for the media and spread the message of fear among the masses. Apart from terrorist activities, social media poses a challenge in the form of international governments who try to intervene on internal matters of a country. An example of this is China, which used platforms like LinkedIn to recruit spies in the US. Similarly, Pakistan is known to use social media against India in multiple instances. Leading media houses uncovered propaganda run by Pakistan on social media against PM Modi hours before his crucial meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping. All these examples illustrate how social media can be misused to spread misinformation and messages of violence. Therefore, unregulated social media poses a huge challenge for governments as dangerous information circulates widely.
However, in rare instances, social media can also be beneficial to governments which minimise the challenges posed. Social media can be used by governments to interact with people directly during a crisis. An example of this can be the recent outbreak of coronavirus, where governments have tried to use social media to try and reduce panic and mitigate misinformation. Effective use of social media was seen by Singapore, where anxiety and panic of citizens were reduced by updating citizens regularly via social media. When the disease level was raised to orange and citizens began hoarding groceries, the government was quick in trying to reassure and calm citizens. However, despite the attempts, people have not stopped panicking or believing rumours. This is evident from the fact that citizens have used social media to express veiled criticism of government mismanagement and lack of government accountability. Social media now acts as a check and balance against the government. With the use of social media even honest and genuine efforts by the governments can be undermined. Therefore, social media ultimately poses a challenge and is largely a necessary evil that has to be managed.
In conclusion, social media is largely a challenge to the government because it cannot be easily regulated. While laws and policies exist to manage social media, enforcement is often impossible due to anonymity as well as how quickly messages are spread. Though the benefits of social media cannot be denied, from a governmental perspective social media poses serious challenges and is a threat to the government bodies.
