The debate over social media companies’ right to control the content that users see has reached a tipping point. A bipartisan collection of lawmakers has taken aim at a decades-old law, Section 230, which has provided legal protections as these companies have come to dominate the technology sector.
View More Is This The End of Section 230?
Over the last several months, many Twitter users have found themselves looking for a new space in which they could engage with others. Earlier this month, Meta launched a brand new app, Threads, that might deliver what users have been seeking. With staggering new sign-up numbers early into its launch, the new app appears to be, at a minimum, a worthy competitor to Twitter. Can both platforms competitively coexist or can only one reign supreme?
View More Will Threads Unravel its Social Media Rival?
Montana made headlines on Wednesday for being the first state in the nation to ban the social media app, TikTok. U.S. officials claim the application is a national security concern, while critics call the ban a violation of the First Amendment. Challenges to the new law may take place before it goes into effect in January, but its ability to gather enough support to pass could point to a new precedent being set.
View More The Implications of a Social Media Ban in Montana
Technological determinism is denounced by Dr. Erin Cech in her critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges report. This discussion focuses on the strengths of Cech’s argument surrounding the engineering double standard in social media, virtual reality, and reverse-engineering the brain. Though she makes many strong arguments, pieces of Cech’s argument fall short. Pointing fingers at the entirety of the engineering community and holding the Grand Challenges to a standard for which they were not intended weaken Cech’s overall discussion. However, her argument is ultimately a valid discussion of a profession that would benefit from wider perspectives in a world full of complex issues.
View More Technological Determinism in the Grand Challenges
Despite midterms historically having mediocre turnouts, the number of votes cast by young voters in the 2022 midterm elections was the second highest in 30 years. As technology becomes more deeply woven throughout our culture, politicians are discovering that social media provides a genuine way to connect with new voters.
View More The Political Power of Gen-Z and Social Media
Photo-editing software has advanced dramatically in recent years, allowing people to share images of themselves that do not reflect how they truly look. As a result, rates of body dysmorphia and eating disorders, especially amongst the younger generation, have risen, leading engineers to analyze the ethicality of photo-editing software, as well as the social media platforms that host these heavily edited images.
View More Social Media Dysmorphia and the Dangers of Hyper-Realistic Photo Retouching Software
In today’s digital age, social media plays a major role in the development of adolescent minds. Young people begin posting content in their early years and are exposed to a feed of others’ pictures and videos. However, while this system may ostensibly help people stay in contact with those they do not see in person, it also creates an environment of comparison that can lead to self-esteem and body image issues. Beautification technology like augmented reality filters and photoshop have only exacerbated the issue, making it so that young people are not only comparing themselves to a curated version of others, but an entirely manufactured one. Engineers have a responsibility to examine the possible negative effects of the products they create, and beautification technology leads to far more harm than good.
View More Artificial and Unreal: The Ethics of Beautification Technology for Images and Social Media
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, recently purchased enough shares of Twitter to have a 9.2 percent stake, making him the largest shareholder of the social media company. Musk’s appointment to the board of Twitter has brought about questions of free speech, social media deregulation, and the ability of the extremely wealthy to influence the way that our world communicates.
View More Elon Musk’s New Stake in Twitter and the Unchecked Power of Tech Giants
Facebook’s rebrand as Meta signals the beginning of a new era for the tech giant, but is it all just a distraction from the company’s recent negative press?
View More Into the Metaverse: Facebook’s Big Rebrand
A Facebook whistleblower has come forward alleging that the parent company of Instagram knew that the social media app causes major harm to the mental health of its users but has refused to act on this research and instead continues to insist that these effects are minimal or non-existent.
View More Protecting the Mental Health of Instagram Users