Social media and freedom of expression protection in the digital age

Greetings!

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One of the freedoms governing our society is that of freedom of expression and this kind of freedom is a freedom where one expresses his mind and thoughts not to him or herself alone but to the public. So, for this reason, freedom of expression is of great importance to everyone and the society at large and it must be well protected.

Though, I have once heard someone saying, everyone has his or her right or freedom to talk, but that what happens after the expression is what he cannot guarantee. This is the problem we are facing today. Though there's what is called freedom of expression, is it as free as stated?

This particular question would be the foundation of my write up to the topic of the contest. To me, the freedom of expression of the individual should be well protected. This is because, everyone has their right to their opinion and because of this, everyone's opinion must be well respected no matter what.

So, calling out people for airing their opinion in the public space is not something I would support, in fact it would even be the violation of the individual rights to sack or dismiss anyone that has posted something against the policy or ideology of his workplace.

Also, to me it would be a great violation of one's human right to expel a student for posting or airing his view against his school.

When I was in university, some of our colleagues who were student unionists were expelled for demanding better administration from the school management.

When this happened, everyone was shocked and couldn't believe that those students would be expelled for fight for their right, but because of the ultimate power being possessed by the school management, their expulsions were not retracted but stood and this really sent a wave of fear through the mind of all others who had plan to follow suit.

So, to me, this dismissal or expulsion of the person who shared his or her thoughts online against his/her organization is not the right thing as everyone has their own right to speak for or against his or her organisation.

So, the use of social media in this era has really helped to improve our judgement as people now have their right to criticize what's not good about the society and most especially about their organizations. By doing so, this has really brought sanity to the society. Though, there's fake news as well which sometimes is being targeted at some of these organizations, but to me, the social media has really helped people most especially its users to perform their right accordingly.

As for me, I would not support the calling out of people because of their post against their organizations as I would say that they are only exercising their freedom of expression.

In fact, as long as this opinion didn't infringe on the rights of others and it's in the purview of the social media policy, such a person should not be called out.

I have seen situations where organizations think they are doing the right thing but in the real sense of it, are not doing what they are supposed to do. It's an insider in the organization that went on the internet to expose them to the public. She did this under the purview of her right as a citizen, but it almost cost her her job.

But for the timely intervention of the social activist and her supporters, nothing was later done to her as her sacking was being overturned.

Though, there must be a check to what people say or post on the internet because of the fake news going on in the media space, but this check must also respect people's right to freedom of expression as. I'm not saying the organization didn't have their own rights too, but the rights of those who work for them or study in their school should be well respected.

So, calling out people for their online post in the form of sacking or expulsion is not the best any organization should do as everyone has their own right to their opinions.

I would also advise those people that make use of the social media to air their opinion to do so accordingly and not go about infringing on others right or peddling fake news about their organizations or schools as this could also be an infringement on the right of the school or organization which can meet a stiff resistance from such organization.

This is my entry to the week 171, Edition 03 of the weekly Featured contest in the Hive Learners community.

Thanks for reading.

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