Everything is getting complicated
The world is on fire on the issues of data privacy and the ‘power’ of tech giants. The new turning points in the tech world (which is no longer just confined to tech) such as the new update on privacy policy by WhatsApp and the banning of Donald Trump from social media platforms have triggered a new wave around the world. More and more people are moving to platforms like Signal and Telegram. Even though people worldwide are moving to alternative platforms, the irony is in the reason for their change to other platforms. Most Americans are moving to Signal and Telegram due to the banning of Trump and other far-right and radical groups by popular social platforms, thus spreading hate from a more secured and encrypted environment like Signal.
This is not the case in other parts of the world, such as India. Here, people are moving to such platforms with the intention of securing their data and ensuring privacy in their daily life. A lot are even also choosing these platforms due to the haunting of the far-right government led by BJP for being part of Anti-CAA protests and Anti-farm bill protests. Thus, gradually, these encrypted platforms are becoming fertile land for the growth of both pro-democratic values and anti-democratic values, which is really frightening. It is both bitter and sweet at the same time.
These situations are rising a lot of questions on the aspects of freedom of speech, liberty, authority for control, etc. Is it ok to provide an encrypted space for anti-democratic forces to spread hate and violence, without any check? Isn’t it necessary to provide a safe and encrypted space for democratic protesters around the world to assemble and spread the values, without the monitoring of the authoritarian government? Are some employees sitting inside Silicon Valley capable of determining what is to be banned and what is to be censored? Whether the authoritarian governments should be given the right to decide whom to be banned or what to be censored?
The questions are endless. Maybe, we, as a generation, are not even capable of answering some of these questions. We might have to redefine and redesign the aspects of free speech, free will, control, etc. in the present era of social media and algorithms. A new Marx has to be born. New theories have to be derived. We need to change before the chaos.
