By Nethmi Dissanayake
Social media, the use of web and mobile-based technology to support interactive content, has now become an integral part of modern society. It has a huge impact on our lives on a daily basis and has expanded our horizons of communication more than we could have thought possible. It has changed our pace of life forever. Eliminating social media from our lives is now out of the question. It is how we stay in touch with our friends, it’s how we promote our businesses and work, it’s how we receive our news, and it’s how we entertain ourselves.
However, social media has a dark side. Some social media platforms allow users to remain anonymous, save for their IP addresses (the address of the device or connection they’re using to connect to the platform) stored on their servers. This allows users to hide behind their computers and say things that would be considered inappropriate (and in some cases, illegal even) in the real world. There are those who broadcast such views and policies with serious intentions, and then also those who use social media to make controversial statements for attention and to upset people, but at the end of the day do not intend to cause serious harm. This practice, called trolling, takes many forms on social media and with so many platforms to choose from, anyone with the internet can use this to their advantage.
As social media becomes such a heavy part of our online presence, the discussion arises for certain elements of social media needing to be policed, as laws can still be broken. Recently, speaking with regard to child abuse and child labour, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva claimed that the Government should take steps to either block or regulate the sector in the country, indicating that social media was responsible for most of the issues at present, because of the potential for issues to be highlighted or exaggerated on social media. The Minister also drew attention to China’s ban on social media, calling for social media in Sri Lanka to be similarly banned or heavily regulated.
For more insight into if social media can be regulated to avoid recent spates of trolling, harassment, or exaggerating issues, and to learn how regulating social media can affect freedom of speech, Brunch reached out to a few people for some perspective.
My own preference is for Sri Lanka to collaborate with global platforms to improve their self-regulation: Nalaka Gunawardene
Media analyst Nalaka Gunawardene spoke with Brunch about why social media has been blamed for spreading disinformation and contributing to violence around the world, saying: “Blaming new or recent technologies for society’s problems is nothing new, and social media has become the latest ‘lightning rod’. What we really need is a dispassionate assessment of its pros and cons. Social media is a mixed blessing: Users of such web-based digital media being empowered to generate their own content represents a major leap forward in human communications – with wide-ranging benefits for culture, economy, humanitarian responses, and democracy. Such benefits are undermined by the misuse of social media by a minority of users leading to issues like cyber-bullying, hate speech, and disinformation. Companies owning social media platforms like Facebook (which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp) and YouTube (owned by Google) have been challenged to ‘police’ their services more effectively to minimise or eliminate misuses while upholding freedom of expression (FOE). Governments in open, democratic societies are under pressure from citizens to create safe online experiences for everyone – while ensuring FOE (freedom of speech) guaranteed by national laws and international human rights laws.”
Going into a bit more detail on what violates community standards on platforms like Facebook, and Instagram’s community standards, Gunawardene explained that Facebook’s and Instagram’s community standards, as well as YouTube’s community guidelines, represent the self-regulation of these platforms. These rules and guidelines are mandatory and applicable to all users, and violators face consequences with repeat offenders risking account closure and even permanent bans from the platform. “These rules spell out what is not allowed in these spaces – from clearly defined hate speech to nudity and explicit sexual content, and much else. The rules also provide for anyone to report rule violations, and an appeals process,” Gunawardene said. “In the past, enforcing these rules was fraught with problems (especially where content in local languages like Sinhala and Tamil were concerned), but increasingly, the global platforms have deployed improved artificial intelligence to detect rule-breaking fast and at scale, and more human monitors to assess more contentious matters. It is still a race between platforms trying to self-regulate and some determined rulebreakers looking for loopholes. Governments are watching, and urging platforms to do more.”
Sharing his perspective on regulating and banning social media, Gunawardene said that such a discussion requires the widest possible public debate involving all stakeholders, and is absolutely not something that a branch of government and the defence establishment should be deciding on unilaterally. He also shared that the regulatory response to social media elsewhere in the world typically involves one of three options, the most extreme of which is the outright blocking of global social media platforms, as is done in China, Iran, and North Korea. Such outright blocking violates people’s rights to access information and communicate, rights that are frequently ignored by authoritarian regimes, something that would be a great cause of concern should Sri Lanka adopt such policies.
Other approaches to regulating social media are the platform liability approach – where national laws are passed demanding global platforms to monitor hate speech and other “unlawful content” and proactively remove them quickly to avoid heavy fines (an approach Germany is taking) – and finally, the user liability approach, where national laws make individual users of social media totally liable for all the content they produce and/or share on platforms. In countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar, where this approach has been used, this has led to users being jailed for criticising their governments.
“China-style total blocking is simply not acceptable in a democracy like Sri Lanka’s. Even the other two options are problematic in countries lacking rule of law and are known for selective law enforcement and selective justice,” Gunawardene said. “My own preference is for Sri Lanka to collaborate with global platforms to improve their self-regulation even as we work hard on improving our citizens’ digital literacy – the skill to use digital tech and services safely and ethically.”
We as citizens need to know how to use these things for the right purposes: Roshintha Perera
With social media being a vital part of how businesses and creators operate, especially now, in a digital mid-pandemic world, digital creator Roshintha Perera shared with Brunch just how vital these social media platforms are for small business owners to grow and for creators to gain recognition.
“It is understandable that age-old and traditional elders in Sri Lanka point their fingers at social media whenever something wrong happens. But before that, I think now more than ever children need to be educated on the topic from a young age, as social media is becoming a vital part of everyone’s lives whether they like it or not.” Perera shared: “Children and young adults need to be educated on what should and can be done, what shouldn’t be done, and what is not allowed. This education must not only be limited to children and young adults living in the Western Province but also at the same level in other provinces as well.”
She added: “Banning or regulating social media will only put us behind all other developing countries. Because I would say, the majority uses social media for the right purposes, and we’re seeing a huge increase in people taking courses and learning how to optimise social media to start businesses and market their businesses online. As it is not as simple as it looks, more jobs are opening up in the digital marketing industry specifically related to social media.”
To Perera, if social media is used for these purposes alone and to mingle with friends and to share your memories with friends and family, then the world would be a much better place, but unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. People use social media to carry out various corrupt deeds while hiding behind fake profiles, harassing, and trolling. “We cannot always expect the Government to regulate and come up with laws to prohibit social media,” she said. “We as citizens need to know how to use these things for the right purposes.”
It is important to know that constitutionally, we do have the freedom of expression, speech, thought, and conscience: Kaveesha Coswatte
Brunch also spoke with iProbono Legal and Programmes Analyst and APIIT Law School Lecturer Kaveesha Coswatte for legal insight into regulating and banning social media; she explained what she sees as the biggest legal issues in social media and how to prevent them.
“The biggest issues would be hate speech, misinformation or fake news, fake profiles and impersonation, and the unauthorised use of content – be it personal pictures, posts, or other related content,” Coswatte said. “In terms of preventing such issues, especially with regard to hate speech, fake news, etc., the lack of specific laws remains a key obstacle. For example, we do have some existing laws to apply to such situations, although some are interpreted to be useful depending on the situation. A few of these are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act (No. 56 of 2007), Penal Code of Sri Lanka Ordinance (No. 2 of 1883), Police Ordinance (No. 16 of 1865), Public Security Ordinance (No. 25 of 1947), Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) (No. 48 of 1979), Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act (SLTA) (No. 25 of 1991), and Computer Crimes Act (No. 2 of 2007).”
Coswatte also explained that the line between freedom of speech and social media should be drawn where the State can draft boundaries on what is actually against the safety of its people and national security instead of having ambiguous terms and improper application, and in some instances, a tendency to cater to the majority race or religion. For example, Coswatte explained in regulating freedom of expression using the ICCPR, we have seen instances where the law has been used unjustly to persecute individuals who have not exceeded their right to free expression, citing the arrest and remand of author Shakthika Sathkumara in April 2019 for the publication of a book that mentioned sexual misconduct among the clergy in a fictional short story, and also the arrest of Abdul Raheem Masaheena in May 2019 for wearing a dress that was perceived to resemble a Buddhist symbol when it was not the case.
While the Government has mentioned that it intends to bring about new laws to curb fake news and hate speech, Coswatte noted that these measures must not become a double-edged sword that can be used and abused on a whim to silence the voices of opposition or fresh perspectives. For this, we need very clear laws, no ambiguous words or room left for other interpretations, and also make sure that law enforcement authorities apply the law equally and without discriminating against the rights of citizens.
“It is important to know that constitutionally, we do have the freedom of expression, speech, thought, and conscience. But we must also be aware of the fact that these rights cannot be used to infringe upon another person’s rights based on their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other perceived characteristic,” Coswatte said, adding: “Online harassment, trolling, and using another person’s images or content without their consent, are still crimes in the eyes of the law and we can take necessary measures against such perpetrators and also help victims protect themselves. One of the main things to remember is that no matter what we put up online, even if it’s years ago or we delete it, a copy of it is always out there and stored. Awareness about the laws that were mentioned before, and knowing that if you are a victim of a cybercrime, and knowing that you have many avenues starting from complaining to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Cyber Crimes Division, to complaining to the social media app itself, is important as well.”
No doubt, social media is a great link to connect with people and maintain healthy relationships. However, social media comes along with some disadvantages as well which are beyond your control. So, with that, one must always be careful while connecting with people on social media. Try to be minimal on social media and share less of your personal information on any account. By taking a calculated approach and maintaining your sensitive information, you can enjoy social media to the fullest.
