Author: zqm5114

Our public spheres are seeming to become more and more online-based. In the United States of America, the first amendment acts as a protection for civic dialogue. This dialogue in 2020 is happening online and way more frequently. Within this blog post, I will evaluate the pros and cons of our public spheres shifting online.

A public sphere like Twitter is available to millions and millions of Americans for free. The cost of access is essentially zero, besides wifi and having an internet-capable device, allowing for anyone to engage in dialogue present within their timeline. This has enhanced our public spheres and has allowed individuals to engage on a platform with an individual they might have never had a conversation with prior. It allows for people to gain access to perspective if the individual is willing to accept it and allow for civic dialogue to happen. Another benefit of the ability to engage in a public sphere like Twitter is the swift ability to share and access information. The internet and social media have become unparalleled with their easy methods of transmitting information to the masses.

An online public sphere and all the potential good it poses brings with it a plethora of its own issues. The issues stem from the same benefits of having the ability to access this technology. Social media and its regulation have already been argued by many as the 21st century’s leading challenge. It garners an interesting dichotomy for policymakers and Silicon Valley elites. The massive amount of users and the ability to allow everyone to share information has led to an increase in misinformation campaigns and misinformation being spread. This has led to the ability to have our public spheres to be compromised for one’s personal interest. Simultaneously, creating confusion, fabrications, and narratives that lead the masses to be increasingly more misinformed or uninformed.

 

Recent action has been taken by social media companies to mitigate the spread of inaccuracies within reporting and false statements made by public figures. Many free-speech fundamentalists see this as an attempt to take our rights away by censoring tweets and suspending individuals. Similarly, many conservatives see this as an infringement on our constitutional rights and view it as a DNC partisan effort to mitigate conservative influence over social media. Twitter as of two days ago has censored over 400 tweets from the President and his campaign. Regardless, if you agree with the content within those tweets, companies like Twitter, Facebook, and Google have made it evident that these ‘public spaces’ are not truly public. They are indeed owned by a corporation and our first amendment right is a privilege within our online space in the year 2020.

Black Lives Matter is an organization that started to combat police brutality and simultaneously maintaining the agenda of uplifting black communities and individuals. It began in 2013 with the not guilty verdict of Treyvon Martin, and the following year after the horrific death of Eric Garner they continued to rise to national prominence. Over the last several months America has been faced with the issues of racial injustice. These issues are not new in America, however how groups like BLM organize and rally is much different than the 20th-century framework. A recent studying citing that over  24 million Americans partook in these recent demonstrations.

The Black Lives Matter social justice group once again rose to national prominence following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. Specifically following George Floyd’s tragic death, which was upload online for the whole world to see, sparked massive outrage from all Americans. In the Covid-19 era, the online space has imploded with activity from users on social media platforms. When this video was uploaded it was shared and seen millions of times, watching someone get their life drained for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.  The response and outrage on social media were significant. Users shared images of a black screen to partake in what is now known as Blackout Tuesday. This was a message that individuals wanted to share and show their support for the black community as well as standing in solidarity with their message of police reform.

The implications throughout social media are remarkable but also they have shown some very important aspects as to why these demonstrations are different. A group like BLM might not be directing the actual protesting but they are providing materials, guidance, and a framework for demonstraters to follow. A key to getting this information out to demonstrators is the group’s ability to utilize social media. Their use of social media has allowed them to be able to spread their message to a much wider and larger audience. Through the protests that sparked in Minneapolis, demonstrators across the globe in London and Paris marched against police brutality. Sparking one of the largest social movements in history while in a pandemic.

A significant challenge the group faces is that much of their information is spread through social media. Social media is also the biggest catalyst of ‘fake news’ and it is more likely to be seen and shared. This has led to an increase in disinformation campaigns against BLM and even some cases of opposing demonstrators in violent confrontations.

BLM has sparked a global movement that has rocked the world. It has shifted global attitudes towards the idea of race and authority. While trying to change and reform our current system of policing through the interactive engagement of an online community.

Hong Kong’s government officials have been under pressure from various activists to turn back the pro-Beijing legislation that has been enacted. This is viewed by many in the intelligence community as a powerplay by mainland China to impose its one-party control on the autonomous region of Hong Kong. Now in the pandemic era more than ever before the online space has been an effective way to apply pressure, provide anonymity, and organize demonstrations.

The use of social media allows demonstrators in these groups to put out a public opinion and have a discussion without being afraid of being jailed.  A study found the significant importance of messaging apps and their importance in mobilizing demonstration efforts. Also, local forums have seen year-to-year growth driven by protests. One local forum had 12,000 users in July 2018 and now has over 120,000 active users. These forums are known for developing new initiatives, agendas, campaign ideas, and strategies. Pushing the ideas of a new policy and trying to establish an open conversation on what is best for the people of Hong Kong. This in itself is a new idea in China and something that is not particularly practiced on the mainland. However, Hong Kong has been accustomed to the privilege of free speech and the mainland wants to absolve its right to it. Hong Kong up until 1997 was a British colony, and then eventually returned back to Chinese rule developing a “two systems-one state” policy. However, China has given up on this policy and now has left Hong Kong in the current state of civil unrest.

The current online community of revolution is going against the grain of what the norm in China is. This currently would not be possible without the efforts of social media. Especially in the times of a pandemic making the community more accessible through online efforts. The movement in Hong Kong is truly trying everything it can to challenge the will of the communist party. It will be interesting to see if more mass mobilization will occur, and what will incur with the rest of this movement. As of two days ago, four pro-democracy officials in Hong Kong resigned after legislation to jail political adversaries that are a threat to national security. It will be interesting to follow the progression of this movement and where it will end up.