Abstract
The debate over the technological ineffectiveness of social media platforms regarding personal safety is, in fact, relevant and useful. However, more often than not, it becomes engulfed in arguments criticizing social media as a whole. While there are many things that can be criticized about social media and different aspects of personal safety on them, certain mechanisms to protect users' safety do exist. But these mechanisms tend to be ignored by the users themselves. With that in mind, it's important to look at the other side of the coin, which is the choices that people tend to make when using social media. For instance, nearly every social media platform has mechanisms to turn a profile from public to private. However, a vast number of individuals tend to leave their profile on public so as to be able to gather more followers, likes, shares, etc. Simultaneously, they are entirely unaware of the potential or real danger they are putting themselves in. Alternatively, they are entirely aware of the said danger but choose to take that risk.
TopBackground
Each year, there are several hundred thousand different types of different security breaches associated with the digital world and each year, there are several thousands of research papers published on the topic of cybersecurity in one form or another. While those numbers are truly staggering, several factors are quite often overlooked or simply laid out without any indication as to how they may be connected. Because of that distinct lack of connectivity between the relevant factors that impact the level of digital security, especially the personal aspect of it, the room for different professional and layman interpretations becomes quite large. One of the main issues that arises when digital security and personal safety on the Internet is discussed is linked to the complete sidelining of individual behavior and its effect in the Information Era. It is exactly for this reason why it’s important to address that particular issue in connection to objective parameters such as technological development of IT and the legal terms of using different IT products and services. It is pretty much self-evident why ignoring the element of human input in something that is primarily used and operated by humans is inherently deficient in that it fails to recognize the full scope of the topic. It is precisely that absence of analyzing human behavior in relation to digital security that was the main driver for structuring this chapter the way it is structured and trying to point out the importance of individual actions taken by social media users to protect themselves.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Age Restriction: Deniability of access to a specific product or service due to insufficient maturity.
Digital Security: An umbrella term for all measures taken to protect online identity, data, and assets.
TikTok: A social media platform hosted by Chinese company ByteDance.
Behaviorism: A psychological framework that analyzes patterns of behavior.
Meta: Company which facilitates the social media platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Accountability: Being responsible for the consequences of one’s action.
Personal Safety on Social Media: Collective term to describe pre-programmed and individually taken measures of protection while using social media platforms.
Terms and Conditions: A legal document that outlines obligations, rules, specifications, and requirements of all parties involved in a contractual relationship.
Privacy Policy: A document or a set of documents that describes the handling of user data gathered during operating.