Week 2 - MBA 6101 - Power of Social Channels

There is no doubt that TikTok is the biggest social media platform in the world right now. It has created careers for millions of people who did not have to take the traditional, educational route and work through an office or big company. However, social media is never a perfectly wholesome and positive platform for every user. It can turn in an instant and lead to false images and behaviors that can convince one of what is good but is bad and negative for society. 

Ezra Klein from The New York Times shares great insight of how important ethics plays into social media. While it is a great media channel to share news and important information across the world, governments may have too much freedom in being able to control what their citizens are shown as well as influencing citizens from other countries. The “data espionage problem” that exists within social media, specifically, TikTok, shows immense danger that too much choreographed information is being shared that can skew one’s thought process and belief system. For example, when the war between Ukraine and Russia began, there were countless videos of “The Ghost of Kyiv”, a fighter pilot that was skilled and creating havoc in the air fight. Many users caught onto this and believed it, including, media channels until it was released that this fighter pilot did not exist. Instead, it was from a game and was created to offer hope to Ukrainians and rally support from the world in aiding Ukraine. 

This can be detrimental to a country as it shows how easy it is to cross borders without physically being there. Ethics has a role in social media in that it should be free from bias and what can be seen as morally wrong. By creating media that convinces one of morally wrong ideas being right can lead to an implosion within the country. Social media has a responsibility to reach back to its roots; connect people with others without entangling them in morally wrong ideologies. 

Reference:

Klein, E. (2022, May 8). TikTok may be more dangerous than it looks. The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/08/opinion/tiktok-twitter-china-bytedance.html