Why It Is the Right Time to Regulate the Internet?

Digital World vs. School

In my imagination, the digital world is like a school. Without teachers and regulations, bullies will hurt kids; students will copy someone’s homework; school violence will occur; and eventually, students will not be able to tell good from bad. That’s the reason why it is always the best time for us to regulate the environment and educate people!

How Much Does Privacy Matter?

Back to reality, when the first time someone told me that Facebook exploited users’ private data for its own business and political purposes, I was very confused. As a Facebook user, I did not know how exactly did it use my data and what did it do to make profits. The majority enjoy the benefits of the internet, but very few of them see the dark side of it. Even if we notice that big tech companies and the internet industry are exploiting our privacy, the problem is we don’t clearly know how much does it matter!

Tech Companies Continue to Grow Without Regulations

Although Facebook has tons of negative news about fake news and users’ privacy in recent years, according to CNBC news, its active users grow in every geographic area with a 19 percent increase in average revenue per user from last year. From an economic perspective, internet giants like Facebook successfully grow a new avenue of commerce. In the digital world, even small start-up companies can easily success at a very low cost. That is one major reason why tech companies do not want too many government regulations on the internet.

Internet Needs Proper Regulation

Admittedly, the prosperity of the internet provides enormous commerce chances for many companies. Without regulations, some tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google will rule the digital world for their own advantages. The internet environment, like a physical environment or social environment, needs proper regulation and protection.

Education After Regulation

Many people do recognize that Facebook is toxic, but they just can’t help using it. One explanation, as discussed in John Naughton’s article The privacy paradox: why do people keep using tech firms that abuse their data, could be that people understand the tradeoff between internet services and losing privacy. However, they underestimate the negative impact of losing privacy. Thus, regulation of the internet is not enough to protect people’s legitimate rights and interests. Internet ethics education for both users and companies should also be promoted in the near future.

References and read more about:

Internet regulation: is it time to rein in the tech giants?

The privacy paradox: why do people keep using tech firms that abuse their data?

Facebook soars after it crushes earnings, posts record profit

Thanks for your reading and hope you had a great weekend!

Kexin Wang