The Double-Edged Sword Of Social Media As A Social Justice Tool
By MIchael Vivar
X, formally known as Twitter, has been locking horns with governments around the world. Most recently, the platform has been banned in Brazil.
Brazil’s president, Lula de Silva, shut down the X platform because Elon Musk refused to appoint a local legal representative to moderate misinformation.
This combative relationship between social media platforms and governments is a global issue. Last month, Telegram’s Pavel Durov was arrested in France.
Telegram is one of the least moderated social media and communication platforms currently operating.
This has made it a forum for an underground economy trafficking in guns, child pornography and illegal narcotics.
It can be easy to fall into a trap of negativity and cynicism surrounding social media and its executives.
Still, it must not be forgotten that social media has been a useful tool for social justice around the world. It’s used by people to combat authoritarian regimes.
Twitter and Facebook were integral to the Arab Spring in 2010 which subsequently brought down long-entrenched despots, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.
Social media is currently a crucial communication for people trapped in warzones such as Gaza and the South Sudanese Civil War.
Closer to home in the United States, users are leaving X in droves. Those who remain are still sounding the clarion call of democracy and justice.
Vaunted civil rights activist Audre Lorde wrote, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” In the age of social media, this may not be entirely true.
