Ethical Considerations of Content Filtering on Social Media

Abstract

Social networks services (SNS) have become so influential that they are now shaping the way people think about social and public issues. Through advertising and the nature of their workings, SNS can influence election results in countries with a long-standing democratic tradition, the cases in point being Brexit and the 2016 American presidential elections. The article's main concern is to outline the ethically questionable aspects of the SNS workings, which can hinder the functioning of contemporary democracy. It will highlight certain ethically controversial aspects of SNS, which determine how a relevant part of the population of many democracies is accessing information and alternative world views. Questionable practices of SNS create a breeding ground for the political manipulation of voters; their lack of transparency often prevents democratic control over political campaigns and the means used to convince voters; they help spreading “fake news” and strengthen the fragmentation and polarization of societies. The latter is hindering the political process needed to confront many important societal and political problems. Confronting the above-mentioned anti-democratic tendencies requires the self-regulation of SNS and, possibly, changes in the legal regulation of the SNS workings.