Religion, race, caste, creed are sensitive social constructs that exist even today. Social media plays a huge role in breaking down communication barriers, but the same tools can hurt sentiments of people at large. Recently, former mayor of Cape Town Helen Zille referred to a woman as a ‘professional black’ on Twitter, when the woman spoke about racist treatment in South Africa. She tweeted: You’re a highly respected black professional. Don’t try to be a professional black. It demeans you. When asked to define the term, she replied: People who base their life and purpose around their colour.
No sooner than Zille hit the ‘post’ button, angry and indignant netizens began pouring in their replies to the leader. The term ‘professional black’ was trending on Twitter all day, and it has sparked off a rage online. Back in India, major social networking sites like Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, Youtube, Blogspot etc have been ordered by the Supreme Court to remove any ‘anti religious’ or ‘anti social’ comments in the next two weeks. Though some of the companies claim they have not received any notice, February is their deadline.
Tech-savvy youth feel regulation is not the way to go. Author Veena Prasad says, “Regulation should not have any place in society. While writing, there should be maturity and awareness, without compromising on freedom of speech.” As a constitutional right, youngsters feel deeming something as ‘anti-social’ and ‘anti-religious’ is subjective and debatable. Law student Vasudha Sharma says, “Self regulation appears as the best way to avoid controversies.” From 2008, India is in line with USA’s freedom policy pertaining to online content. She adds, “Besides, how on earth can you possibly regulate online traffic these days? The flurry of activity in the virtual space is too much.”
Social media analysts and content managers do agree that monitoring ‘offensive’ content is a Herculean task. Arvind Venkatesh, co-founder of social media management firm Reticular says, “Most social networking sites have filters against objectionable content. It is possible to screen language but how can we plug personal opinions?” Rajeev Gowda, chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy, IIM Bengaluru adds, “You cannot treat social media like conventional media and users must have a sense of self regulation.”
The battle continues, even as the deadline is nearing.