Does Facebook have Legal or Ethical Duty to Rescue Crime Victims

Does Facebook have Legal or Ethical Duty to Rescue Crime Victims

Facebook does not have the legal duty to rescue crime victims. The only needs that of individuals trained in law enforcement or emergency. Facebook being a social site, neither has police powers nor should be first responders. The Facebook officials, however, have the ethical duty to report crimes as an ethical and moral standard, including those occurring in real-time. The officials, if they learn that there is a crime happening during live recording, they should inform relevant law enforcement officers. There is the assumption that real-time reaction is possible. For instance, if an individual film while throwing stones through windows, the transgression would end even before Facebook officials respond.

There has been a rise in issues regarding Facebook not doing much to control the kind of uploaded video content in its platform, despite the company investing much on new media forms such as live video. There was the uploading of a video of Stephen shooting Robert Godwin (Newcomb, 2017). There were critics regarding the incident and anger because of the officials taking long to remove the video. I believe that Facebook does not cause crimes. The site, however could be promoting crime by acting as a medium in which criminals streams crimes live as is with the case of Godwin’s shooting. There is difficulty with trying to blame Facebook officers for the offence. The argument could be that murderers did the felony because of free airing on Facebook platform. The murderers would be airing live to find an excuse to also blame a third party.

Ways that Facebook can be Proactive and Thorough while Reviewing Content

Facebook offers high level of security to safeguard its end users and information while making use of the site, thus secure browsing. There is implementation of posts and message encryption to inhibit other users from accessing without permission. Facebook is prioritized to get rid of spam, that is eliminating undesired information. There are ways of securing Facebook account. There are various suggestions such as sending alerts when unauthorized persons tries to log in using unrecognizable web browser or device, contacting Facebook’s help center when there is hacking of one’s account, and changing passwords after a while. The alerts give information concerning the devices’ details and location. Proactively, Facebook policies advises people not to post deceptive information, hate speech, sexually suggestive content, and credible attacks or threats in groups and individuals. Facebook should publicly share its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The shared information must include users’ service terms. There is a need to give users updates to inform them of any changes with guidelines and policies. Users can then become aware of the rules and regulations set upon by the management. Breaching the rules could lead to permanent termination of one account.

Safeguards that Facebook and other Social Media Platforms should put to Prevent the Broadcasting of Acts of Violence.

Social media companies, activists, and the government should try handle the issues revolving Facebook live recording, just like media makes oil industries accountable for emerging problems. Companies should, generally, be accountable for problems associated with the firms’ operations. Policies that could pose risks of harming the environment or public, forces companies to prove that potential benefits are more likely to outweigh the challenges (Aiken, 2017).The social media sites could continuously monitor posted data. There can be the development of artificial intelligence software, which would find and erase activities linked to violence. There could be the enforcement of government censorship to inhibit people from accessing violent information. There can be the removal of graphic photos that promote violence, during monitoring operations

Oversight Committee or Ethics Officer

There exists an Oversight Committee which represents the users’ interests and gives the ethical standards, regulations, and rules of Facebook. The Oversight Committee’s purpose is also to investigate violations and complaints, and provides constructive criticism to resolving problems via ethics training. The Committee’s power is to penalize those who abuse the community’s standards and regulations. There lack ethical officers among Facebook employees. The continuous rise in the bogus news trends on Facebook has led to the company to ask for help, based on the International Fact Checking Network’s data. Facebook should employ ethics officers to assist the Committee during decision making periods. The ability to consider the position of an ethics officer would portray that there is value for Facebook community.

Changes that Facebook must Adopt to Motivate Ethical Utilization of Platforms

Facebook should focus on hate speech messages as victims are bullied because of their disabilities, gender identity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or race. There should be a comprehensive monitoring process eliminate such types of abusive interactions. There must be an issuance of sanction against persons victimizing others in Facebook. Facebook intends to make sure that individuals have phone cameras on standby, ready to post. Moments after Mark Zuckerberg sent condolences to friends and family of Godwin, he launched demos of augmented reality sites (Nieva and Solsman, 2017). Mark’s aim was to pave way for software developers to create new methods of overlaying digital photos over whatever one’s camera lens perceives in the actual world. ThereThere should also be the enforcement of policies regarding authentic identity for the protection of Facebook users. There are several people who use other people’s identity to commit offences such as stealing. Legitimate identification is also crucial when wanting the get rid of fraudulent practices like hacking of accounts. There should be monitoring of whether one adheres to right procedures when using several profiles. Facebook must give substantial instructions for people to determine whether it is better to develop a profile compared to a page. There should be the provision of reprimand and fines for those who violate the instructions.

Conclusion

Facebook is ethically and not legally reliable to rescue crime victims. Facebook management has the ethical duty of reporting offences. The management collaborates with enforcement officers when threats or physical harm arises, which affects the community’s safety. Facebook demonstrates its moral and ethical standards by controlling and monitoring the consequences of dangerous situations.

Facebook could be thorough and proactive by encrypting messages to avoid unauthorized individuals from intruding another person’s account. Facebook could also publicize its rights for users to become aware of the sites’ rules. Users can, therefore, not justify their wrongdoing based on inability to understand the laws. Facebook and other social sites should continuously monitor posted information to prevent violent acts.

There is a need to hire ethical officers to assist the Oversight Committee to make relevant decisions regarding any arising issues or suggestions. Other necessary interventions include the provision sanctions against offenders of Facebook laws through issuance of reprimand and fines, and the need for users to give authentic personal details.

References

Aiken, M. (2017).Facebook Must Stop Live-Streaming Murder From Becoming the New Normal. Time.

Newcomb, A. (2017). Cleveland Shooting Highlights Facebook’s Responsibility in Policing Depraved Videos. NBC News.

Nieva, R. & Solsman J. (2017).Can Facebook solve its violent video problem? Cnet