Should Social Media Platforms Be Banned From Collecting Their Users Data? (Essay Sample)

Should Social Media Platforms Be Banned From Collecting Their Users Data? Brenda O. Moegi. Department Of Information Science, School Of Science And Technology. Should Social Media Platforms Be Banned From Collecting Their Users' Data? Today social media is considered one of the most effective instruments for promoting various activities. However, in many cases people are afraid to share personal information because it might lead them to a certain crime and not only that but also to problems with their health. Nevertheless, some claim that if some companies do not want to give up collecting users’ data they will never be able to develop properly. Thus, it seems reasonable for Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media platform to collect users’ data for this company in order to improve its services. On the one hand, it makes sense; however, on the other hand, there is no way for such platforms to guarantee that they will not get into trouble in case they become more successful and more popular among consumers. Therefore, it can be stated that such an idea has neither positive nor negative characteristics. One should mention that today there are quite a significant number of different social media platforms which offer quite similar services. For example, LinkedIn offers to create profiles, post pictures, and upload videos (LinkedIn 2016). Twitter provides access to news, links to tweets, etc. As can be seen from the last section of this paper, these social networks provide many opportunities for developing career, business, and educational plans; nevertheless, using their services is hardly a secure reason to let your friends and relatives know about what exactly you are doing online. In addition to the above-mentioned, there are several reasons why it may be appropriate or rather unwise to share personal information online. First, it can be argued that those who use multiple services, especially social ones, tend to make lots of contacts with people that they like and even spend time together when at home or out together, which means that they have already developed quite close and trusting relationships. If somebody wants to keep his or her privacy protected, he/she will not reveal anything to those who use their services because they are likely to become “friends” even though they do not know each other anymore; otherwise, it would be too risky for them to keep having to reveal such contacts to others. Moreover, some professionals prefer to have private conversations without revealing anything to their employers or clients; hence, it is obvious that making such communications confidential to third parties does not help either. In many ways, this suggests that sharing personal information online is quite dangerous for both sides. Nevertheless, in general, I think that such information collectors as Facebook or Twitter need to collect user data in order to serve their customers better. These companies have already been taking action regarding issues connected with security and protecting personal information. They did it by changing policies and rules, introducing new technologies, and offering additional benefits (Facebook 2018). It appears that they are ready to take any measure, which will help them further to improve their performance and satisfy their customers. Consequently, they can develop special features for people’s accounts with whom they interact. To my mind, this seems fair, but it must be done under regulations, which prevent them from being too aggressive. Otherwise, such situations as Cambridge Analytica scandal or Facebook’s failure to protect user data will still occur. As for me, I believe that such kind of policy is unfair and sometimes counterproductive as well. For instance, such platforms as Google allow their users to communicate freely with advertisers; consequently, they could easily gather data about them and sell it. Of course, Facebook could do so, but it would not be so beneficial as far as the latter is currently focused primarily on advertisement selling. This implies that this company can promote inappropriate goods or services to its customers (B...