Is social media responsible or

should the users of it be held to more account?

There is currently a government inquiry in this country into social media. It is covering a wide variety of issues but there seems to be a common theme among those who use it - that the tech giants like Meta are to blame for all that is wrong with it.

Really? Is alcohol to blame for all the negatives surrounding it? Is tobacco to blame for all the harm it causes? Is vile pornography in itself to blame? Or is it perhaps the people who use it and abuse it. 

I have a Facebook page. It is a pretty tame sort of page. I have some good friends there and they have been very supportive. During Covid lock downs it was a social lifeline of sorts. I suspect other people I know also felt like that. If I lost access to that communication I would lose a great deal. 

The people I know use Facebook and Instagram and other such sites in a responsible way, in the way those who set them up intended. The problem lies elsewhere but it lies with the people who use them every bit as much as the people who created those sites.  Just as alcohol in itself is not to blame for the car crash which kills someone Meta is not responsible for the suicide of the person who has been bullied. Meta may have a responsibility to do what they can to limit the behaviour but to try and make the claim they are responsible for the consequences of the behaviour of others is surely a step too far? We should have made it much harder for children and young people to access the platforms involved. 

Not so long ago I suggested that the technology was surely there to prevent children and young people accessing a great deal of social media. The suggestion was met with silence in places where something might have been done. Nobody said it was impossible to do just that. They simply ignored what I suggested. 

I suspect this had more to do with a severe reluctance to actually stop children and young people from using so much social media and the sort of social media they use. I also suspect that the reluctance to do this might relate to two issues. One is of course the revenue people get on the back of the likes of Meta but the other is the issue of power. If you have an audience you can influence them. You have power.

If you doubt that then why did I get a text message on my mobile phone this morning. It claimed to come from a Senator for this state and it was asking me to respond to a survey so as to "serve you better". I do not know which Senator it came from. I wiped the message without responding.

I suggest the current parliamentary inquiry is trying to avoid taking responsibility every bit as much as the "tech giants" are. Those involved will, for all they say otherwise, be more concerned about power than people.