Mass Media and Politics Blog by Raegan Bolden

  Freedom of Internet and Political Space Authorities are progressively acquiring advanced tools to surveil the online activities of their citizens on social media platforms. For a long time, governments have hired individuals to oversee and scrutinize the content being communicated on social media platforms. Freedom House reports that political leaders even create fake profiles to establish connections with genuine social media users and obtain entry into their networks. For instance, Iranian officials have proudly announced the existence of a 42,000-strong army of volunteers responsible for monitoring online speech. How can real democracy develop from such authoritarian systems? The answer seems to lie in the fact that the Internet has the capacity to distribute knowledge, offer access to novel concepts, promote government transparency, uncover political corruption and election fraud, and facilitate communication through text and images, thereby dismantling obstacles and promo...

  Is Internet Freedom Legal? The Internet has become a battleground where every user worldwide fights for the right to access, express, and distribute information without government censorship. People enjoy this freedom so much that sometimes they forget that some of the information they spread could cause damage. Social media platforms have allowed politicians and citizens to air their opinions at any time and place. With the growing political polarization, we see lots of hate speeches on politician’s posts. People insult politicians on different posts just because they have the platform to do so. The main concern is whether these opinions are legal. Is everyone free to make comments or post anything they feel like in the media? Can posts on these platforms lead to arrest or jail time for citizens or even the leaders? In my previous articles, I discussed the real damages caused by internet freedom, specifically concerning politics. Most scholars have previously examined how this...

  Is Internet Voting Safe? As I mentioned in my previous article named, "Changing Politics. Where are we heading?" social media and the internet have transformed political practices worldwide. Internet voting is one of the most proposed developments in the modern political era. Using internet voting, sometimes known as e-voting, enables individuals to exercise their voting rights from any location and at any given moment, as long as they have access to a computer with internet connectivity. The implementation of this measure has the potential to enhance the ease, accessibility, and efficiency of engaging in electoral procedures, hence potentially resulting in a rise in voter participation rates. For young individuals pursuing education away from their place of residence, internet-based voting enables them to engage in the electoral process without needing physical travel on the designated Election Day. In 2000, the United States held the first legally binding election usi...