What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?

Facebook:

There are several issues regarding censorship and regulation as a result of the changes due to new and digital media.

Facebook has recently implemented a new policy, which bans images which show nudity and violence. It automatically censors images which expose any form of nudity e.g. nipples when breastfeeding your child. However, explicit images such as violence are also likely to be highly censored. Many have complained and argued that, Facebook is the only place in which their freedom is not restricted and their only way to enjoy a an important amount of autonomy and express their freedom, and this policy interferes infringes upon their individual rights and liberty. However, it also limits the degree of freedom of expression and choice, which challenges the pluralist model. However, we could apply the Marxist theory here. We could argue that this censorship and regulation comes from the elite, who want to interfere with our freedom. Thus, we could argue that we can never truly enjoy a high level of independence, as the elite are always, in some form or another, trying to infringe upon our freedom and restrict how we may want to represent ourselves, perhaps because they want to represent us according to what suits our society (Hegemony)

However, Facebook is also banned in countries such as China and Thailand.

The reason why it is banned in China is because, when people start to question the government, the government cracks down. Opponents are called terrorists, traitors etc. However, the state controlles the media, and if it begins to feed the masses with all sorts of stories about how the government is good and only wants to help, and that the dissidents, are a danger to the country because they question the wisdom of the government. To make this stick they have to block outside sources of information because they fear that the people will not just accept the media stories and instead decide to find out the truth for themselves.

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Twitter:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16753729

Twitter to selectively 'censor' tweets by country

Twitter has announced that it now has the technology to selectively block tweets on a country by country basis. (Impact of new and digital media, means that social networking sites have up to date technology which enables them to be able to censor 'tweets' worldwide) - Media Effect

Thailand is the first country to publicly endorse Twitter's decision to allow messages to be censored 

According to the regulations, a tweet from Thailand could be blocked at the request of an individual, a company, or the government. However, while it will be invisible to users in Thailand, the tweet can still be seen by users in other countries.

"Twitter gives space to different opinions and views, and that is so important in a restricted society – it gives people a chance to speak up," he said. "But if this censorship is welcomed by Thailand, then other countries, with worse records for human rights and freedom of speech, will find that they have an ally."

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