Essay Sample on Ethical Issue in Social Media Users Privacy

Social media is a major technological advancement area globally. According to Perrin (2015),"65% of American adults were using social networking platforms in 2015 which is an improvement from 7% in 2005". While the use of social media has drastically increased in the previous years, ethical issues related to the privacy of the users is a major arising problem.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Millions of people in the world share their status and other private information using social media platforms. The new technological advancement, which allows people to connect with others also poses a security risk to them (Litt, 2013). Technology has made the universe a global village due to the speed of the flow of information from one continent to another facilitated by social media platforms. The most affected group by cybercrimes and hacking of their social media accounts are the celebrities in the world (Madden, 2012). Managing social media accounts to ensure that the privacy of the users is guaranteed remains to be a challenge.

This investigation aimed at proving that the issue of social media privacy continues to be an emerging issue globally. The investigation also intended to identify the effect of the ethical issue of hacking and cybercrimes associated with social media. The privacy of social media users is also analyzed to derive a conclusion on whether the users of the platforms are satisfied with the security given on their personal information.

Different privacy issues affect online platform users based on the media platform they use. The problems may be self-induced due to issues of negligence or unavoidable problems inflicted by a second party. The government and online service providers pose surveillance privacy issues (Gurses & Diaz, 2013). The surveillance problem results from the government and service providers' action of leveraging the personal information of the users (Gurses & Diaz, 2013). This problem is a common issue among social media platform users as state authority and regulators tries to obtain information that may be crucial for security purpose.

Social privacy issues arise when online service providers mediate online interactions (Gurses & Diaz, 2013). The service providers in attempts to prevent sharing of information that may be harmful to the community or a specific group in the community may intercept some private information. The social privacy issue is most common among Facebook and users which prevents the users from sharing information that may be immoral in nature. The online service providers give guidelines that their users should adhere to when sharing information and there is a need to regulate the content shared with the public.

Losing private information or accessibility to one's social media accounts is another major privacy issue. Private information is made public by hackers in attempts to discredit the user or extort them. (Madden, 2012). The social media information of a user the person wants to keep private is given to other people. The issue of online hacking is among the most widespread cybercrime. The social media platform users often find themselves locked out of their accounts by anonymous people.

Based on the investigation, it is evident that many people globally experience social media privacy issues. According to Infinite Dial (2019), the total population of the USA population using social media platforms is over 77% of the whole current population which is estimated to 223 million. The large number of users needs to be protected from the privacy issues above to prevent their personal information from falling into wrong hands.

The bar graph was obtained from infinite dial (2019) which is a statistical representation of the social media platform users in the USA who needs to be protected from social media privacy issues.

References

Gurses, S., & Diaz, C. (2013). Two tales of privacy in online social networks. IEEE Security & Privacy, 11(3), 29-37.Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=G%C3%BCrses%2C+S.%2C+%26+Diaz%2C+C.+%282013%29.+Two+tales+of+privacy+in+online+social+networks.+IEEE+Security+%26+Privacy%2C+11%283%29%2C+29-37&btnG=

Infinite Dial (2019). Retrieved from https://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Infinite-Dial-2019-P=

Litt, E. (2013). Understanding social network site users' privacy tool use. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1649-1656. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Litt%2C+E.+%282013%29.+Understanding+social+network+site+users%E2%80%99+privacy+tool+use.+Computers+in+Human+Behavior%2C+29%284%29%2C+1649-1656.&btnG=

Madden, M. (2012). Privacy management on social media sites. Pew Internet Report, 1-20.

Perrin, A. (2015). Social media usage. Pew research center, 52-68. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Madden%2C+M.+%282012%29.+Privacy+management+on+social+media+sites.+Pew+Internet+Report%2C+1-20.%09+Perrin%2C+A.+%282015%29.+Social+media+usage.+Pew+research+center%2C+52-68&btnG=

Zhou, B., Pei, J., & Luk, W. (2008). A brief survey on anonymization techniques for privacy-preserving publishing of social network data. ACM Sigkdd Explorations Newsletter, 10(2), 12-22. Retrieved from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Zhou%2C+B.%2C+Pei%2C+J.%2C+%26+Luk%2C+W.+%282008%29.+A+brief+survey+on+anonymization+techniques+for+privacy-preserving+publishing+of+social+network+data.+ACM+Sigkdd+Explorations+Newsletter%2C+10%282%29%2C+12-22.&btnG=