What can we do about violent, hateful social media posts?

Social media becomes more and more pervasive in our lives every year. According to a 2021 Pew Research study, a majority of the 77% of Americans who own a smart phone spend more than 5 hours a day.

It is one thing to share pics of family members and to share our thoughts and concerns with online friends. It is quite another to spew hate and promote violence or glorify killing or promote ideas that have no basis in fact and might even motivate others to take harmful actions.

There has been talk of addressing changes and reforms, but it seems that little has been done. There are indeed hurdles to what can and cannot be done, First and foremost is our First Amendment right to free speech. I value that right that is enshrined in our Constitution. Expressing ideas and thoughts freely is a bedrock concept of our Democracy even if we may not agree or even find thoughts of some to be despicable.

Nonetheless the hate and violence promotion that we too often see, or that motivates harmful conduct, needs to be addressed. Whether it be hateful diatribes glorifying violence by people who went on to committ mass shootings or the racist posts leading up to the violence in Charlottesville, the significance of social media's role can't be ignored. Hate and violence are contagious, and these posts undoubtedly could incite harm to our fellow citizens.

Federal law which is in place like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gives internet platforms legal immunity for most all of their content. There are some exceptions like violations of federal criminal law, wiretapping and sex trafficking . We can and must do more in tightening and reforming the law. Many nations in Europe have much stricter laws on social media, but they do not have Constitutions which guarantee free speech. Governments must seriously evaluate what can be done being mindful of our first amendment rights. Though the platforms have begun to take steps to self police objectionable content they need to do more, and as users we must urge them to do so. We must let the platforms know that antisemitic tropes, racism, promotion of violence and other seeds for the spread of vile conduct cannot be tolerated if they want us to keep returning to their space on the internet. As private entities they can cleanse their space on the web . The logarithms they have in place that quickly monitor our buying habits can and must be focused like a laser on hate and violence postings to help eradicate same. In addition there needs to be a mechanism to forward information on such postings to law enforcement agencies at the federal and local levels.so they are alerted to to potential suspects who might victimize others. Similarly funding must be provided to law enforcement to enhance monitoring of social media to find and act upon red flags that could help intercept bad actors before they implement actions that can do harm. Though taking on social media reforms may not be easy, the cost of failing to try to do more can only lead to more damage and harm.

• Elliott Hartstein of Northbrook is an attorney and a former Buffalo Grove village president. If you are interested in possibly discussing this topic further over Zoom with Elliott and others, you can email him at elliotthartstein@yahoo.com.