Promote Innovation

Growing up my parents always preached to me that freedom of speech in a community  is the foundation of the community itself. To have the ability to freely express and share your own ideas and thoughts will allow you to live in and contribute to an inclusive society. A community without freedom of speech would be in my opinion a community where there are many  problems that will occur more often because people will be angered as they will feel like their opinion doesn't matter and they don't have a voice and can’t contribute to society. 

 

As we have learned, the first amendment was created to  protect citizens freedom of speech. Many have used their freedom of speech to influence others. Freedom of speech has also been used to allow people to freely speak about issues that concern their communities and create a conversation that can create a change that will benefit society. 

 

We have discussed how in 2013 a baker refused to make a cake for a same sex marriage. The baker felt that their first amendment was being violated. The baker argued that they should have the freedom to choose what and how they express their speech. For them  their cakes express their art and a cake for a same sex marriage was not how they wished to express themselves.

In today’s society there are so many different platforms of social media where people have easy access to speak openly and share their ideas and views on any subject matter they choose. Social Media platforms allow people to share a wide range of views and their own personal opinions. As per Jack Balkin’s opinion on the matter that social media promotes innovation, I too share the same opinion. New technologies offer ordinary citizens a vast range of new opportunities to speak, create and publish.

The original intention of these platforms was to create a space where people could voice their opinions freely and create content where people who share their same ideas could follow them and share experiences. At the same time they allow for discussions on different views and opinions on a subject. They say that social media platforms are becoming more and more popular as people's primary source of news and information. As each social media platform gains in  popularity, so does the platform's censorship. This in my opinion goes against our first amendment. When we create our own social media page and share content, the content is of our own thoughts and opinions. However these platforms are becoming increasingly regulated and censored which contradicts freedom of speech. Twitter, Facebook and TikTok will allow certain opinions and views to be shared, but that is limited and a lot of content is censored and some users are even blocked entirely. These platforms use algorithms to censor content as they don’t want people thinking they share the same opinion. I argue here that this policing is against freedom of speech.

Social media is not just used as a personal platform, companies will use social media platforms to advertise their products or promote their business. Social media platforms are also increasing as a popular news source for many people.The ability to open up discussion in the comments sections  allow us to share and communicate our opinions. There still is control and censorship, but it does give people an opportunity to  share their opinion in society.