Essay Sample on Social Media Should Censor Users

Social media is the root of all evil. There are many trolls on social media that have filled up social media with a bunch of nonsense. You could go onto any platform right now and find some type of misinformation within a few minutes of using the application. Some of these posts can be harmful to users, especially when they can be proven wrong or immoral. Jammel Jaffer and Scott Wilkens’ point of view in their article Social Media Companies Want To Co-opt the First Amendment. Courts shouldn’t let them are incorrect because censorship can be beneficial to users.

Jammel Jaffer and Scott Wilkens’ opinions are wrong. Throughout the article they try to have readers perceive social media platforms as bad due to them removing or marking people’s posts as misinformation. They try to preach that the reason for them removing posts is due to their political views. They state that social media platforms should not restrict others' voices no matter what. They back up their ideas with tweets that ex  President Trump made, ultimately causing his Twitter and Facebook to be banned. However, according to the First Amendment of the Constitution that shall not make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Applying it to the situation Jammel Jaffer and Scott Wilken’s referred to, Twitter can technically ban ex President Trump without it inflicting on his First Amendment rights. Why? Twitter is a private company, not a government. The government can not push a private company to publish something it doesn’t want to publish, stated by John Morris, who has served in leading telecommunication roles in two presidential administrations. As well as being a private company, Twitter withholds the right to regulate their content as they wish. Whenever a user signs up for a platform, they are agreeing to a set of terms of service. If Twitter feels as though someone has broken those terms of service, they are allowed to delete the content. If ex President Trump does not like the terms of service, he can find a new platform.  

Not everyone’s opinions need to be voiced on a platform. In fact, social media companies should self-regulate. What is self-regulation? Self-regulation is where an organization or company sets and enforces rules and standards relating to their industry. This means that social media should set guidelines and rules of what should and shouldn’t be allowed on their platforms. Whenever false information is being spreaded that is not correct and can be proven wrong, Twitter and other companies should mark it as misinformation. Whenever ex President Trump tweeted out about mail ballots being forged and illegally printed, Twitter did the right thing by marking his tweet with information about mail ballots. Platforms need to take it upon themselves to take down or flag posts and information that may be misleading or even glorifying.

Social media can be a very harmful and toxic place. It is up to the platforms to take the proper steps to take down misinformation and limit the opinions that are being spreaded on their platform. If they do not take the correct precautions to prevent misinformation or toxic ideas from spreading on their platform, the government may step in. Therefore, companies should self-regulate and censor their content.