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The Importance Of Self-Censorship On The Internet

1268 Words6 Pages

Meta tag: Is government surveillance encouraging self-censorship on the internet? Several studies have found that government surveillance boosts self-censorship. Do you avoid expressing your opinions online?

Intro: Do you avoid voicing your opinions online? Perhaps you refrain from posting controversial political opinions in fear of a potential backlash from friends, work colleagues or even strangers who hold a perceived majority view compared to your own “minority” view? According to a recent study, “Under Surveillance: Examining Facebook’s Spiral of Silence Effects in the Wake of NSA Internet Monitoring”, published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, government surveillance of the internet could be responsible for self-censorship …show more content…

It begins to strip away the Internet's ability to serve as a venue for all voices, instead catering only to the most dominant,” says Elizabeth Stoycheff lead researcher of the study at Wayne State University.

A study by the Pew Research Center conducted in 2014 entitled “Social Media and the Spiral of Silence” found that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter could actually encourage self-censorship. The study indicated that while people are very concerned about the NSA leaks, they aren’t comfortable with airing their opinions about the agency on Facebook. 86 per cent of Americans surveyed said they were happy to discuss it in person, but only 42 percent of Twitter and Facebook users would post it online.

There have been other studies to back the fear that government surveillance programs are stifling freedom of expression and one study has also found to be instilling fear in that people “might stop visiting certain websites or not say certain things just to avoid seeming …show more content…

Adrian Shahbaz head of research for Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net project told The Washington Post with Bloomberg: “The trend in Russia is going in the direction of China, of preventing government criticism online”. Shabaz said, if adopted, the law will “lead to greater self-censorship as users become all too aware that security agencies can readily access their online data for an extended period of time.”

Many internet users are still concerned that their browsing activity is monitored by their government, their ISP or other third parties. One piece of software that you can use so you can remain anonymous online is by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). When you connect to any one of +930 VPN servers we offer at Hide My Ass! Pro VPN, you are assigned one of our IP address, your connection is encrypted, so you can browse the internet anonymously and

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