argumentative essay about should content on the internet be more restricted

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Should the Internet Be Regulated?

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By Concepción De León

• Dec. 1, 2017

The Federal Communications Commission’s plan to roll back net neutrality has sparked intense debate ; those in favor worry that deregulation would limit access to information in a way that disproportionally affects vulnerable populations, while opponents argue that the market naturally regulates itself without government interference. Here are three books that examine both arguments and their historical precedents.

THE VICTORIAN INTERNET The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s Online Pioneers By Tom Standage 227 pp. Walker & Co. (1998)

In this history of the telegraph, which was developed in the United States and Britain during the 1840s, Standage demonstrates the parallels between the innovative technology of that era and today’s internet. The telegraph allowed people to communicate globally, changing the way business was conducted and even making transnational romance a possibility. Many hoped the accelerated communication would inspire greater international harmony. Standage cites a toast by the British ambassador in 1858 to “the telegraph wire, the nerve of international life, transmitting knowledge of events, removing causes of misunderstanding and promoting peace and harmony throughout the world.” The reality was less idyllic; people found ways to use the new form of communication to nefarious ends (like delaying messages or hacking private communication) and divisions were still perpetuated. But the telegraph’s cultural impact is undeniable, and Standage discusses its enduring influence in this book.

WHO CONTROLS THE INTERNET? Illusions of a Borderless World By Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu 238 pp. Oxford University Press. (2006)

For an overview of the fight to keep the internet open, turn to this book, written by Wu, the Columbia law professor who coined the term “network neutrality,” and Harvard professor Jack Goldsmith. As the subtitle suggests, Goldsmith and Wu reckon with the idea that the internet would transcend borders and territorial rule. They cite case studies like Google’s struggle to do business in France and Yahoo’s compliance with Chinese censorship to demonstrate how governments continue to exert their influence to control the web. In his second book, “The Master Switch,” Wu discusses how consolidation in the communications industry can lead to stringent control of information by corporations and threaten the internet’s democratic design.

THE FALLACY OF NET NEUTRALITY By Thomas W. Hazlett 56 pp. Encounter Books. (2011)

This brief primer presents the opposing view; Hazlett argues that government regulation stalls and suppresses innovation and that competing networks should be allowed to hash out the rules of managing web traffic among themselves. As he writes in his book, “This bountiful marketplace has emerged unplanned, unregulated, from the visions of technologists, the risks of venture capitalists, and the innovations of entrepreneurs.” Hazlett believes that trend can and should continue on its own.

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Averting our eyes: The controversy of internet censorship

Pornography. Extremism. Fake News. Few words have as visceral an effect on a person as these. Together, these three items embody almost everything that is wrong in American society. And how has the government responded to their increase? By inviting them in as guests of honor through internet servers around the country.

Since its inception, the internet has been a nearly universal hub of information and activity. Everything from debates, auctions and photo albums is shared across the web in plain view of the public. Unfortunately, the internet contains much more sinister files than these. Pornography, drug deals and explicit content are all only a few clicks away from anyone with access to a computer. In this age, parents are forced to protect the eyes of their children from graphic content and sexual innuendos from the moment they touch their first device. Sexual addictions and crime rates across the country are on the rise and the vulgarity of the internet bears the brunt of the blame.

For years there has been an ongoing argument regarding the subject of internet censorship. Many groups claim that any content that someone desires to put on the web should be allowed to be posted. Others staunchly believe that the internet has become too explicit and harmful to be allowed to continue unchecked.

I believe that there is a difference between the restriction of useful information that can be applied and evaluated freely by consumers and the restriction of material that has little to no positive application. To be clear, I don’t believe that the internet needs to be dismantled. It is a wonderful tool with limitless potential for the improvement of mankind. But, I also believe that it is a tool that can easily be misused. Evil was not born on the day the internet was created, but it was given a new foster home. In the days of newspapers and encyclopedias, evil things were still captured and mass-produced but not on the scale that the internet allows them to be.

Much of the content on the internet including pornographic websites fall within that category of harmful material. These are things that have no potential to improve society and serve as a stumbling block to many who are exposed to them. We are becoming a culture that is more addicted, sexualized and uncaring than we ever have been before, and it is happening at a younger age than we have previously seen. Left unchecked, this exposure could lead to a dramatic shift in the moral values of American youth. When exposure to explicit content becomes normalized, other more socially unacceptable acts become more acceptable. Several scholars and studies have made the connection between rape acceptance and pornography exposure. Pornography is not simply images or videos; it is the breeding place of complacency and acceptance of heinous acts.

Another more controversial item needing censorship from the internet is websites and forums that foster extreme or criminal opinions. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime published a document that records multiple examples of how the internet has been used to foster terrorism across the globe. One of the main ways these groups use the internet to reach people is through propaganda, including messages, videos or games that intended to sway people to a more extreme mindset.

This topic becomes startling when we realize that none of this is actually prohibited. The UNODC states that “the dissemination of propaganda is generally not, in and of itself, a prohibited activity.” How is this not illegal? Criminal groups are embedding dangerous messages into the internet, and there is nothing the law can do to stop them.

The final commonality on the internet that needs to be regulated is fake news. As internet users, we are practically drowned in a flood of news. I understand that storylines will differ based on the perspective from which they are told, but an issue arises when two stories become irreconcilable. We are correct to assume that a narrative contains multiple storylines, but those lines should not contradict each other.

Somehow, individuals and news outlets manage to transform a single-threaded story into a web of self-contradiction and fallacy. Often, only a select few of those accounts are reasonably factual, leaving the rest as pure fiction, written to incite an emotional response in undiscerning people. It has become increasingly difficult to find cultural common ground with people around us because of the sheer quantity of fallacies we are fed. Humanity requires a standard to be set for news on the internet if groups are to begin to fix bridges and restore broken relationships.

But my viewpoint is uncommon. As a whole, the general American consensus is that freedom of speech should not be infringed. They cry that the First Amendment protects our freedom and keeps the government from influencing our lives. The American Constitution makes it clear that information should be free for all, and that it cannot be restricted by the government.

There is certainly justification in their fears. Governments should not be allowed to abuse their power to subjugate their citizens by scrubbing the internet. Many people fear what may happen to America if internet censorship is allowed. They fear that their freedom of speech will be infringed upon, and they will not be able to express their doubts and concerns to the public. In the opinion of many, internet censorship is the first step down the road leading to the eventual loss of freedom for Americans. Without freedom, innovation and progress will come to a standstill, leading to the undoing of American society.

The discussion regarding internet censorship is just one example of a larger ongoing debate. The core of this issue lies the question of man’s moral compass. If a man is born good, then there is no need to regulate content on the internet or anywhere else. But if man is inherently evil, regulation is imperative. Without guidance, humanity will slowly fall away from moral rightness, and we will begin to suffer the consequences of our arrogance.

The question also remains, who exists that is good enough to regulate us? Certainly not the government. They are human as well and have shown that they fall victim to the same errors as the public. The regulator would have to be a group with objective goals and moral uprightness. I am not sure if such a group exists. But if humanity has proven anything, it is that we are a people sorely in need of regulation if we are to remain on a path to improvement.

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Why we need a global framework to regulate harm online

One in three children are exposed to sexual content online. Image:  Unsplash.

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Stay up to date:, media, entertainment and information.

• Digital platforms used by billions of people around the world are being misused to cause harm and endanger people.
• Urgent areas of concern, including child exploitation, highlight fundamental deficiencies in the current digital media ecosystem.
• A new report by the World Economic Forum examines these issues and how we can address them to improve online safety.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of online safety, as many aspects of our lives, including work, education, and entertainment became fully virtual. With more than 4.7 billion internet users globally, decisions about what content people should be able to create, see, and share online had (and continues to have) significant implications for people across the world. A new report by the World Economic Forum, Advancing Digital Safety: A Framework to Align Global Action , explores the fundamental issues that needs to be addressed:

• How should the safety of digital platforms be assessed?
• What is the responsibility of the private and public sectors in governing safety online?
• How can industry‑wide progress be measured?

While many parts of the world are now moving along a recovery path out of the COVID-19 pandemic, some major barriers remain to emerge from this crisis with safer societies online and offline. By analysing the following three urgent areas of harm we can start to better understand the interaction between goals of privacy, free expression, innovation, profitability, responsibility, and safety.

Health misinformation

One main challenge to online safety is the proliferation of health misinformation, particularly when it comes to vaccines. Research has shown that a small number of influential people are responsible for the bulk of anti-vaccination content on social platforms. This content seems to be reaching a wide audience. For example, research by King’s College London has found that one in three people in the UK (34%) say they’ve seen or heard messages discouraging the public from getting a coronavirus vaccine. The real-world impact of this is now becoming clearer.

Research has also shown that exposure to misinformation was associated with a decline in intent to be vaccinated. In fact, scientific-sounding misinformation is more strongly associated with declines in vaccination intent. A recent study by The Economic and Social Research Institute's (ESRI) Behavioural Research Unit, found people who are less likely to follow news coverage about COVID-19 are more likely to be vaccine hesitant. Given these findings, it is clear that the media ecosystem has a large role to play in both tackling misinformation and reaching audiences to increase knowledge about the vaccine.

Have you read?

How can we stem the spread of disinformation online, 3 steps to boost your digital safety while working from home, pseudoscience is taking over social media – and putting us all at risk.

This highlights one of the core challenges for many digital platforms: how far should they go in moderating content on their sites, including anti-vaccination narratives? While private companies have the right to moderate content on their platforms according to their own terms and policies, there is an ongoing tension between too little and too much content being actioned by platforms that operate globally.

This past year, Facebook and other platforms made a call to place an outright ban on misinformation about vaccines and has been racing to keep up with enforcing its policies, as is YouTube . Cases like that of Robert F Kennedy Junior , a prominent anti-vaccine campaigner, who has been banned from Instagram but is still allowed to remain on Facebook and Twitter highlight the continued issue. Particularly troubling for some critics is his targeting of ethnic minority communities to sew distrust in health authorities. Protection of vulnerable groups, including minorities and children, must be top of mind when considering balancing free expression and safety.

Child exploitation and abuse

Other troubling activity online has soared during the pandemic: reports showed a jump in consumption and distribution of child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) across the web. With one in three children exposed to sexual content online, it is the largest risk kids face when using the web.

Given the role of private messaging, streaming, and other digital channels that are used to facilitate such activity, the tension between privacy and safety needs to be addressed to solve this issue. For example, encryption is a tool that is integral to protecting privacy, however, detecting illegal material by proactively scanning, monitoring, and filtering user content currently cannot work with encryption.

Recent changes to the European commission’s e-privacy directive requiring stricter restrictions on the privacy of message data, resulted in a 46% fall in referrals for child sexual abuse material coming from the EU; this occurred in only the first three weeks since scanning was halted by Facebook. While this law has since been updated, it is clear that tools, laws, and policies designed for greater privacy can have both positive and negative implications to different user groups from a safety perspective. As internet usage grows, addressing this underlying tension between privacy and safety is more critical than ever before.

With almost 3.8 billion people now online globally, the digital world offers significant benefits, but also poses the risks of harmful content.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), created by the World Federation of Advertisers, is scaling its impact by partnering with the World Economic Forum's platform for Media, Entertainment and Culture to improve the safety of digital environments, addressing harmful and misleading media while protecting consumers and brands.

GARM focuses on ensuring viewer safety for consumers, reducing risks for advertisers, developing credibility for digital platforms and, more broadly, ensuring a sustainable online ecosystem.

The Alliance is working with the Forum’s network of industry, academic, civil society and public-sector partners to amplify its work on digital safety and to ensure that consumers and their data are protected online within a healthier media ecosystem.

Businesses can join the Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Culture and apply to partner with the Alliance and similar initiatives. Read more in our Impact Story or contact us to find out more.

Violent extremism and terrorism

The pandemic exposed deep-seated social and political divides which reached breaking point in 2021 as seen in acts of terrorism, violence, and extremism globally. In the US, the 6th January Capitol Insurrection led to a deeper look at how groups like QAnon were able to organize online and necessitated a better understanding of the relationship between social platforms and extremist activity.

Unfortunately, this is not a new problem; a report by The New Zealand Royal Commission highlighted the role of YouTube in the radicalization of the terrorist who killed 51 people during Friday prayers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019. Footage of this attack was also streamed on Facebook Live and in the 24 hours after the attack, the company scrambled to remove 1.5 million videos containing this footage.

The role of smaller platforms is also highlighted in the report, citing the terrorist’s engagement with content promoting extreme right-wing and ethno-nationalist views on sites like 4chan and 8chan. Some call for a larger governmental role in addressing this issue whilst others highlight the risk of governments abusing the expanded power. Legislation requiring companies to respond to content takedown requests adds complexity to the shared responsibility between the public and private sectors.

When legislation such as Germany’s Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) demands quicker action by the private sector, potential issues of accuracy and overreach arise, even if speed may be beneficial given the (often) immediate impact of harmful content. Regardless of whether future decisions related to harmful content are determined more by the public or private sector, the underlying concentration of power requires checks and balances to ensure that human rights are upheld in the process and in enacting any new legislation.

So, what do these seemingly disparate problems have in common when it comes to addressing digital safety? They all point to deficiencies in how the current digital media ecosystem functions in three key areas:

1. Deficient thresholds for meaningful protection

Metrics currently reported on by platforms, which focus largely on the absolute number of pieces of content removed, do not provide an adequate measure of safety according to a user’s experience; improvements in detecting or enforcing content policies, changes in these policies and content categories over time, and actual increases in the harmful content itself are not easily dissected. Even measures such as “prevalence,” defined as user views of harmful content (according to platform policies) as a proportion of all views, does not reflect the important nuance that certain groups are more targeted on platforms based on their gender, race, ethnicity and other factors tied to their identity (and therefore more exposed to such harmful content).

Measures that go beyond the receiving end of content (e.g. consumption) to highlight the supply side of the information could help; metrics, such as the top 10,000 groups (based on members) by country or top 10,000 URLs shared with the number of impressions, could shed light on how, from where and by whom harmful content first originates.

2. Deficient standards for undue influence in recommender systems

COVID-19 has highlighted issues in automated recommendations. A recent audit of Amazon recommendation algorithms shows that 10.47% of their results promote “misinformative health products,” which were also ranked higher than results for products that debunked these claims; clicks on a misinformative product also tended to skew later search results as well. Overarchingly, when it comes to recommended content, it is currently unclear if and how such content is made more financially attractive through advertising mechanisms, how this relates to use of personal information, and whether there is a conflict of interest when it comes to user safety.

3. Deficient complaint protocols across private-public lines

Decisions regarding content removal, user suspension, and other efforts at online remedy can be contentious. Depending on who one asks, sometimes they may go too far and other times not far enough. When complaints are made internally to a platform, especially ones with cascading repercussions, what constitutes a sufficient remedy process, in terms of the time it takes to resolve a complaint, accuracy in the decision according to stated policies, accessibility of redress, and escalations/appeals when the user does not agree with the outcome? Currently, baseline standards for complaint protocols through industry KPIs or other mechanisms to gauge effectiveness and efficiency do not exist and therefore the adequacy of these cannot be assessed.

New framework and path forward

In collaboration with over 50 experts across government, civil society, academia, and business, the World Economic Forum has developed a user-centric framework, outlined in the new report with minimum harm thresholds, auditable recommendation systems, appropriate use of personal details, and adequate complaint protocols to create a safety baseline for use of digital products and services.

While this is a starting point to guide better governance of decisions on digital platforms impacting user safety, more deliberate coordination between the public and private sector is needed – today, the launch of the newly formed Global Coalition for Digital Safety aims to accomplish this very goal. Learn more about the Coalition and ways to engage with this work here .

(The Forum thanks Hacks/Hackers for their support on the Coalition.)

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License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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The Guardian view on internet censorship: when access is denied

Over the holiday period the Guardian’s leader column examines the challenges of the future by fathoming out the present. Today we look at growing efforts to restrict internet access

F or a long time, the seductive promise of the internet was of expanding horizons. Individual users would reach out, discovering new friends and new prospects. Nation would speak unto nation. That dream was not unfounded, but it was always an incomplete account, and the sceptics are increasingly being proved right. We are entering an age when what defines the internet may be not expansion but contraction; while the number of its users continues to grow, the imaginative and discursive space it offers is under threat. That space is constrained not only by tech firms’ decisions and customers’ choices, but by the diktat of governments.

Look to a new record set by India at the end of the year. In mid-December, the internet shutdown in Kashmir – one of several in the country – became the longest ever imposed in a democracy. The government celebrated with restrictions in Delhi , too. India’s actions put it in bad but plentiful company. The year began with a 20-day shutdown in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sudan, Zimbabwe and Iraq are among those who followed due to protests. (Ethiopia cut off access for fear of cheating in exams, as well as following the assassinations of officials.) The effect was not only to prevent information coming in, or circulating internally, but to hinder news getting out. Access Now, an advocacy group dedicated to a free and open internet, says that shutdowns – sometimes targeting specific services, or throttling bandwidth rather than totally closing down access – leapt from 75 in 2016 to 196 in 2018 . Last year’s tally, still being finalised, will show another rise.

Spreading controls Shutdowns are the most blunt and conspicuous aspect of internet restrictions. Other methods range from “fake news” laws in Singapore and Myanmar to the blocking of particular platforms. The US NGO Freedom House has recorded declines in net freedom eight years in a row. In part, of course, censorship is rising because internet use is increasing. More than half the world is now online. Communities have found new sources of information and opinion, and a new way to magnify their voices. Some of the governments spending billions to get their peoples online are simultaneously finding ways to deny them access. The global tilt towards authoritarianism is another critical factor, and has helped drive demand for sophisticated censorship technologies. Leaders seeking to expand their traditional information controls (arresting journalists; closing printing presses) into the new realm are also taking cues from each other; when Benin shut down access last year, it followed the regional examples of Togo and the Gambia.

No country has done more to encourage the spread of internet restrictions than China, which has developed the world’s most sophisticated and wide-reaching censorship system, comprising internal controls, the Great Firewall blocking external services and, say researchers, the Great Cannon , a tool for DDoS attacks that overwhelm their targets with traffic. Though Beijing, too, has used shutdowns, for the most part it has ensured that it does not need to do so. Five years ago, Iran announced that China would help to develop its “national information network” and ensure “safe and healthy domestic services”. In November, during widespread protests, it managed to cut users off from the global internet while internal networks functioned relatively normally. Russia announced last month that it had completed tests to check that its internet services would work if the country were cut off from the world wide web. It follows a “sovereign internet” bill which substantially increases the government’s control, stating that all internal traffic should be carried within the country’s own networks, with other traffic going through registered exchange points.

There are economic benefits to persuading other countries to buy censorship technologies, as there are in making it hard or impossible for users to access foreign services, pushing them towards domestic rivals. But this is not just a commercial endeavour. Xi Jinping wants to transform China into a “cyber superpower”, touting the country’s regime as “a new option for other countries and nations that want to speed up their development while preserving their independence”. China is exporting not only its technology but its laws and skills, normalising its censorship practices. It has invited dozens of countries to seminars on legislation and policy. Freedom House has noted that soon after officials took such training, Vietnam introduced a cybersecurity law mimicking China’s own.

Testing the limits Tellingly, the Chinese state-run People’s Daily Online welcomed India’s internet shutdown in Assam and Meghalaya last month. A commentary on the website suggested that this had “once again proved that the necessary regulation of the internet is a reasonable choice of sovereign countries based on national interests, and a natural extension of national sovereignty in cyberspace”.

It’s true that democracies – even those far more liberal than Narendra Modi’s India – set limits upon what can be published, sometimes wrongly. But they tend to restrict far less material than autocracies, and the distinction is qualitative too. There is an obvious difference between banning images of child sexual abuse, and barring any criticism of political leaders. There is also a profound difference between a clear and transparent set of specific rules which can be challenged in independent courts and changed by a democratically elected legislature, and vague injunctions applied arbitrarily and behind a veil. In China, censorship decisions are themselves secret .

The most challenging issue may be how to respond when services are used to incite hatred and violence. Myanmar , Bangladesh, India and other places have experienced the deadly real-world effects of lies spreading at previously unimaginable speed online. Yet each claim that restrictions are needed to protect the public must be scrutinised; unscrupulous governments too often abuse them.

Even in immediate crises, closing off services can leave potential victims vulnerable and the information vacuum can magnify distrust. A better way forward is regulation which obliges tech companies to live up to their responsibilities. Introducing friction may be appropriate where prohibition is not. WhatsApp limited how many times a message can be forwarded after the viral spread of false rumours about child abduction led to lynchings in India .

Where internet restrictions are needed, they must be both proportionate and transparent. Information matters. If it didn’t, autocrats would not be so anxious to control its flow. And the people they rule would not keep finding ways to circumvent those restrictions.

• Freedom of speech
• Narendra Modi

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Should Speech and Content Be Restricted on Internet? Essay Example

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You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

Internet has been hailed as the next industrial revolution because of the way it has revolutionized knowledge and information sharing. Internet has been such a powerful force that it has been embraced as a major weapon to spread democratic and free speech ideals around the world. No wonder it has contributed tremendously towards the recent toppling of dictator regimes in the Middle East.

The fact that internet enables easy access to information and knowledge as well as free speech is the argument put forth by those who believe that content censorship should be strictly limited to actual specific threats of violence and obscene material. Such debaters may argue that more liberal censorship standards that also cover hate speech, pornography, lewd material, and sex chat rooms etc. defeat the very purpose for which the internet was created. They may also argue that free speech and cultural values are totally different things and free speech also covers ideas, values, and beliefs that may not be deemed appropriate by the society.

But such critics fail to understand that there is no such thing as absolute freedom of speech. Europe and the U.S. pride themselves in being the global benchmark when it comes to freedom of speech yet one can be prosecuted in Europe for promoting Nazi ideology and in the U.S. for denying Holocaust. Similarly, even in strong democracies like the U.S., racist remarks could have legal, social, and professional implications.

One cannot legally drink before the age of at least sixteen in Europe and eighteen in the U.S., and similarly, sex with underage individuals is considered a crime even if voluntary. Certain drugs such as opium and cocaine etc. are also illegal. One may argue that restricting use of these specific drugs or not allowing underage drinking constitutes violation of individual rights to freedom of action but society has an obligation to advance the overall welfare of everyone at the expense of few. This is why drugs are prohibited because the cost to the society is more than the apparent benefits gained by few. In addition, young people are not mature enough to make informed and logical decisions which is why society has to take their vulnerabilities into account and protect them from harm’s way including under-18 sexual activity and underage drinking. In addition, internet allows anonymity and it is very difficult to figure out the identity of strangers who may be sexual predators trying to target vulnerable children.

Internet may be a revolutionary technology but it has similarities to other channels of communication, information, knowledge, and entertainment such as print and electronic media. There is no reason why internet should not be governed by the laws that apply to other media. TV channels and radio channels do not telecast adult programs before late night so as to minimize exposure to under-age population. Similarly, print media with adult content take steps to ensure their content is only accessible to those of legal age. But internet has complicated the situation since internet is accessible round-the-clock. Thus, it makes sense to restrict pornography, lewd material, and adult content.

We all become mature and responsible with age. This is why certain laws put age-specific limits or outright prohibit certain behavior. The purpose in most cases is to advance the overall welfare of the society and restricting hateful speech and adult material on the internet will contribute towards the purpose.

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March 23, 2022

Restricted internet access could be key to academic gains

by University of Toronto

The internet is typically not associated with serious self-directed learning where teenagers are involved.

But a new study of high school students in Malawi shows that, under the right controls, giving students the chance to explore high quality, engaging online sources can boost them academically. The internet can even be an effective substitute for textbooks when resources are thin.

Researchers worked with students at four government-run boarding schools between 2017 and 2018, a time when Malawi, a small country in southeastern Africa, was on the cusp of widespread internet adoption. The schools did not have internet access and mobile phones were banned.

For the study, 300 of the schools' 1500 secondary students were randomly chosen to use a "digital library," after school and on weekends over a school year . Quick-charging smartphones were provided in the library, with online access restricted to Wikipedia, a freely available, online, open source encyclopedia that also offers a version in simplified English. A teacher was present but students were free to go anywhere they wanted on Wikipedia without being tracked by name.

Students with digital library access subsequently did better on their English exams, especially lower-achieving students, Lower-achieving students also showed significant improvement in biology, a popular subject.

"Teachers and policymakers have viewed the internet as a problem," says researcher Laura Derksen, an assistant professor of strategic management at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Rotman School of Management, who is a development economist. "We wanted to show that if you can carve out the part of the internet that is both compelling for teenagers and educational, you can get the best of it while not getting the worst of it."

Students spent an average of one hour and twenty minutes a week online. Most of their activity was not school-related, leading researchers to speculate that the English gains may have been due to students spending more time reading. Biology was the top researched subject during the 22% of time they did spend on school-related pages.

"They read about everything," says Prof. Derksen. "You would see the same student jumping around to entertainment, to news, to sex, to something for school, to quantum physics."

Students said they trusted what they were reading, especially in important topics prone to misinformation or not covered in their textbooks, such as world news and safe sex. They also preferred Wikipedia to other sources of information for general interest topics and even over their textbooks and teachers for biology.

That spells potential for under-resourced countries with low high school completion rates and where other kinds of resources, such as donated books, may not meet students' interests, reading levels, or may quickly fall out of date. The study estimates the same intervention, spread to all students, would cost about $4 USD per student a month.

"It's not that expensive to buy a set of smartphones," says Prof. Derksen. "The schools have staff who can manage them. It's a low cost, high benefit intervention for poor countries."

The study was co-authored with Catherine Michaud-Leclerc of Laval University, and Pedro CL Souza, of Queen Mary University of London. The study appears in the March 2022 issue of the Journal of Development Economics .

Provided by University of Toronto

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Praxis Core Writing

Course: praxis core writing   >   unit 1, argumentative essay | quick guide.

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Argumentative essay (30 minutes)

• states or clearly implies the writer’s position or thesis
• organizes and develops ideas logically, making insightful connections between them
• clearly explains key ideas, supporting them with well-chosen reasons, examples, or details
• displays effective sentence variety
• clearly displays facility in the use of language
• is generally free from errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
• organizes and develops ideas clearly, making connections between them
• explains key ideas, supporting them with relevant reasons, examples, or details
• displays some sentence variety
• displays facility in the use of language
• states or implies the writer’s position or thesis
• shows control in the organization and development of ideas
• explains some key ideas, supporting them with adequate reasons, examples, or details
• displays adequate use of language
• shows control of grammar, usage, and mechanics, but may display errors
• limited in stating or implying a position or thesis
• limited control in the organization and development of ideas
• inadequate reasons, examples, or details to explain key ideas
• an accumulation of errors in the use of language
• an accumulation of errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
• no clear position or thesis
• weak organization or very little development
• few or no relevant reasons, examples, or details
• frequent serious errors in the use of language
• frequent serious errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics
• contains serious and persistent writing errors or
• is incoherent or
• is undeveloped or
• is off-topic

How should I build a thesis?

• (Choice A)   Kids should find role models that are worthier than celebrities because celebrities may be famous for reasons that aren't admirable. A Kids should find role models that are worthier than celebrities because celebrities may be famous for reasons that aren't admirable.
• (Choice B)   Because they profit from the admiration of youths, celebrities have a moral responsibility for the reactions their behaviors provoke in fans. B Because they profit from the admiration of youths, celebrities have a moral responsibility for the reactions their behaviors provoke in fans.
• (Choice C)   Celebrities may have more imitators than most people, but they hold no more responsibility over the example they set than the average person. C Celebrities may have more imitators than most people, but they hold no more responsibility over the example they set than the average person.
• (Choice D)   Notoriety is not always a choice, and some celebrities may not want to be role models. D Notoriety is not always a choice, and some celebrities may not want to be role models.
• (Choice E)   Parents have a moral responsibility to serve as immediate role models for their children. E Parents have a moral responsibility to serve as immediate role models for their children.

How should I support my thesis?

• (Choice A)   As basketball star Charles Barkley stated in a famous advertising campaign for Nike, he was paid to dominate on the basketball court, not to raise your kids. A As basketball star Charles Barkley stated in a famous advertising campaign for Nike, he was paid to dominate on the basketball court, not to raise your kids.
• (Choice B)   Many celebrities do consider themselves responsible for setting a good example and create non-profit organizations through which they can benefit youths. B Many celebrities do consider themselves responsible for setting a good example and create non-profit organizations through which they can benefit youths.
• (Choice C)   Many celebrities, like Kylie Jenner with her billion-dollar cosmetics company, profit directly from being imitated by fans who purchase sponsored products. C Many celebrities, like Kylie Jenner with her billion-dollar cosmetics company, profit directly from being imitated by fans who purchase sponsored products.
• (Choice D)   My ten-year-old nephew may love Drake's music, but his behaviors are more similar to those of the adults he interacts with on a daily basis, like his parents and teachers. D My ten-year-old nephew may love Drake's music, but his behaviors are more similar to those of the adults he interacts with on a daily basis, like his parents and teachers.
• (Choice E)   It's very common for young people to wear fashions similar to those of their favorite celebrities. E It's very common for young people to wear fashions similar to those of their favorite celebrities.

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Internet Access Must Be Limited To Students

In my argumentative essay I discuss if the Internet should be limited to students. It is already limited in terms of restricting students from being able to view websites that promote a conservative point of view, and it is restricted from access to websites on illegal activities. Many colleges have also banned any form of sharing or torrent website, but should Internet be limited even further. Should students be banned completely from seeing the right’s perspective on things?

Many would argue that students are already too heavily restricted from seeing the political right’s point of view, but I feel it should be restricted further. Students should be given the leftist liberal viewpoint and no other. If students are able to go online and see a right-wing opinion, then they may start believing that being right-wing is the best. They may start to think that things such as homelessness matter more than equality. Feelings are not the most important thing on the planet, and students need to understand this, which they may not if they see right-wing material. It is better that students only see leftist websites with no access at all to anything on the right wing, otherwise students may start voting republican instead of democrat. Students are already restricted to mostly leftist reading and research material, but this should be stretched further to ensure no right-wing or middle-political website is available at all. This may also include restrictions on certain social media platforms. If a social media platform is not a strong leftist believer, then that social media platform may have been infected by right-wing brainwashing and is therefore damaging to a student’s mental health. (Powers, 2015)

Maybe Internet access shouldn’t be as limited to things such as adult material in college. After all, students are adults, and adult reproductive acts are common with students. I do not feel that it is so terrible that students see adult content via student Internet services. Obviously, a student should be restricted from viewing such material in classroom unless he or she is working on a project that involves adult material. However, access to such material shouldn’t be restricted when a student uses college Wi-Fi. For example, many students study in their college dorms, and they shouldn’t be restricted from seeing adult material in their college dorms. The human expression of sexuality shouldn’t be removed from the college campus. It restricts the rights of a student if he or she is unable to watch adult material. Student’s freedoms of expression are at risk if a student is unable to see people conducting the act of love. Plus, people may become a little odd if they are not exposed to any sort of adult material, and they may be surprised when they see the real thing. (Latimes, 2016)

The Internet is already restricted in college campuses. Colleges already have restrictions on their Internet services so that students cannot access certain websites. Some of these restrictions come from pressure from publishers who do not want students downloading copyrighted material via college Internet systems. Most restrictions come from the need to restrict what a college student reads and sees in terms of their political ideology. My argumentative essay proved that these restrictions should be extended and strengthened to ensure no student is ever exposed to the right’s point of view, otherwise students will be brainwashed into voting for the right. My essay also proved that students should be allowed to view adult material because they are adults and it is part of their rights of freedom of expression. My essay also showed that current restrictions on criminally motivated websites should probably stay in place because there is no need for students to learn about criminal activity, and some websites may offer dangerous advice on how to become a criminal, and that should be avoided too.

Bibliography

Powers, Kirsten. 2015 “How Liberals Ruined College.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 11 May 2015, www.thedailybeast.com/how-liberals-ruined-college.

Latimes, 2016, “Professors are overwhelmingly liberal. Do universities need to change hiring practices?” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2016, www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gross-academia-conservatives-hiring-20160520-snap-story.html.

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Should the Internet be censored?

• . Update: Mar 30, 2021 4:19 pm

Table of Contents

• Even though the internet is giving access to information to all for free, it is increasingly turning into a breeding ground for violent behaviour . Criminals are spreading hate content and impacting innocent youth.
• S exually explicit content on the internet is misguiding children and youth . It encourages violence and gender stereotypes.
• Terrorists are recruiting innocent youth through the internet. Censorship helps in stopping these activities.
• Cyberbullying is on the rise. It affects not just individuals but families and society.
• Internet censorship helps in maintaining Cybersecurity .
• Rapidly increasing piracy need to be curtailed through censorship.
• Spreading  fake news has become common these days. But they are rarely penalized. Blocking the websites that originate fake news, creates fear and acts as a deterrent.
• Misleading ads such as losing weight, skin brightening are trapping innocents and causing financial loss.
• Dangerous clips such as sexual abuse on women and children are increasingly uploaded on the internet impacting innocent minds.
• Human traffickers are using the internet to grow their exploitative business. Censoring the internet impacts them and can reduce human trafficking.
• The present generation of children are exposed to hate content, adult sites and misleading content . To protect children and adolescents, and to restore moral values, censorship is needed.
• Some people are defaming their enemies as a revenge tactic. Punishment and censorship will help in solving such kind of problems.
• Internet censorship violates the right to freedom of speech and expression .
• Internet censorship will lead to the concentration of power in the hands of the government . It may block access to honest criticism on government, opposition parties’ websites in the name of ‘hate speech. It will lead to dictatorship .
• At present the Internet has equality. Anyone can write and publish their content easily. With censorship, money power may rule the internet. Rich people can write anything, but the poor may have to go through a lot to not get blocked.
• Radical changes in society may not spread easily with censorship. Leaders with orthodox beliefs will not accept change and may censor content such as articles on allowing women to places of worship.
• As everyone has different opinions on what is good and what is bad, every content that is censored can lead to protests .

The situation in India:-

• In India, pirated content is removed, if the content creator goes to court. These days this option is increasingly utilized.
• In 2015, 32 websites were banned in India including Daily motion, GitHub, Vimeo as they could host terror content relating to ISIS. But this ban too was lifted later.

The situation in other countries:-

• Chinese have no access to Google, Facebook, Twitter.

Conclusion:-

Censoring the Internet will not be accepted by many because of its vulnerability to power politics. But there is a dire need to monitor the content on the internet to trap criminals and to protect society from the evil side of the internet.

Do you think the Internet should be censored? Express your thoughts in the comment section below. And subscribe to our blog to read answers to the trending GD topics.

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Anon, Jun 3, 2023 @ 10:01 am Reply

Anything pro-censorship is an inherently contradictory position because someone could just duct tape you’re mouth shut, obviously. It is insulting to everyone to even start advocating because it is nonsensical and completely arbitrary. I do not support any kind of censorship nor control of what anyone can say, by anyone else, for any reason. Do the pro-censorship sheep not realize that whatever they don’t like in fact happened and that is why a video exists? If it’s a crime being depicted (even if I agree with you, in other words), why do you want to hide said crime?

Pro-censorship is extremely messed-up reasoning by people who value a little echo chamber more than real people. Of course, they are the sort of people who will support violence against others as long as you wear a badge while you do it! How dare anyone question them?

Alam, Aug 14, 2020 @ 12:12 am Reply

My opinion is the internet should not be censored because government/rich people will misuse this type of action just like (NSA). They will not allow publishing anything against them this will lead weakening our poor opposition.

Team GD Ideas, Aug 19, 2020 @ 9:38 am Reply

Yes, Alam! It can be regressive for democratic institutions.

Tinku paul, May 23, 2018 @ 6:57 am Reply

According to me Internet is a great boon of our society.Its a part and parcel of our life,even without Internet we can’t think of our life, but everything is the good side and bad side as a human being we have to decide which one we will take. Through Internet we can do any type of work ,we can access our Bank account,pay utility bill, meeting, conference etc. People can save their time don’t need to go to the outlet. But some of the people they use internet in bad purpose. Teenagers waste their time this is not good, everything should limit. In a democratic country everybody has right to express their opinion but should not lure , should not influence in bad purpose , should not Panic so it should be censored

Team GD Ideas, May 24, 2018 @ 7:44 pm Reply

Yes! Something should be done to protect kids and teenagers from the bad side of internet.

Austen, Feb 5, 2021 @ 9:18 pm Reply

many young kids can see inappropriate pictures of people, swear words, and many more bad things on the internet. I think the internet should only censor things that can be harmful to little kids.

The Fake Donald Trump, May 6, 2021 @ 11:39 pm Reply

That’s a bad idea because then we have an internet that only works for kids. Let’s say they go to adult sites, all they have to do is lie about their age if we were to censor things for kids because it’s not hard for them to get onto such sites. The reason Facebook has/had (I’m not sure how old you have to be now to make one.) Age restriction so stop kids from seeing adult content (opinion, swearing, etc) but now we are kicking ex-president off that platform for expressing their opinion (which may or may not start riots, but if it does it’s not because of the poster, that’s your choice to riot not his to make you. Censorship is just a bad period, it doesn’t help anything, it pushes people into darker parts of the web. If there wasn’t censorship someone could post openly about trafficking, abuse, and hate crimes, then we (not just the FBI) could track these people down. Instead, we force them into parts of the internet that the majority of people don’t know how to use or access making it harder for others to help put an end to the crime.

Dhanyashree J V, Aug 8, 2017 @ 8:34 am Reply

According to me internet should not be censored. People will upload anything either good or bad to our society but we should take only the good thing. It’s upto us only .

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Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay

Introduction, impact of internet on society, a case for the internet, works cited.

The internet is arguably the most influential invention made in the last half a century. This creation has had immense impact on the world with person’s personal and professional lives being influenced by this innovation. The internet has invaded most aspects of human life with its use spanning from industries as diverse as health care provision to mining and manufacturing.

This wide application of the internet has made it hard for people to envision a world without the internet. For most people, it would be impossible to operate efficiently if the internet was not there to provide quick and effective communication. However, the internet has contributed to some negative outcomes in society due to its attributes of efficiency and ease of information provision. This paper will argue that the world would be a better place if the internet had not been invented.

The information available on the internet has contributed to the rise in violence in our society. The internet contains a wide array of information on all topics. Some of the information contained pertains to violence and how a person can engage in acts of violence. There are websites that offer in-depth information on how to create a homemade bomb or even how to convert a handgun into a semi-automatic weapon.

This information has been used by various individuals to carry out acts of violence against members of the society (Schmitt 1). In the recent Boston bomb attack, the perpetrators used the internet to gain information on how to turn pressure cookers into deadly bombs that were used to carry out the terror attacks. The Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik who killed 77 people and injured at least 110 more is reported to have used the internet in his preparation for the brutal attacks.

Proponents of the internet argue that individuals with violent tendencies will find a way to carry out attacks even without the help of the internet. They argue that a person who wants to commit a crime can get the information they need from books or use traditional weapons such as guns and knives. While this is true, the internet has made it easier for the violent people to access dangerous information with little effort. This has increased the danger that such individuals pose to our society.

The internet has contributed to making the world an unsafe place by making it easy for international terrorists to operate. The prevalence of global acts of terror in the last decade has made international terrorism the greatest danger to world security.

Terror attacks in major cities such as New York, London, and Madrid have caused world leaders to recognize the devastating effect of international terrorism. The internet has assisted in the growth and development of international terrorist organizations. Schmitt reveals that the internet plays a role in the recruitment and radicalization of terrorists in countries all over the world (1).

For example, radical clerics have been known to post radical sermons online and gain many followers all over the world. The radical messages have contributed to the prevalence of “home grown” terrorists who communicate hateful messages through the internet. In the Boston bombing incident, the two brothers are reported to have been influenced and radicalized by the Islamic Cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki whose sermons provided the motivation for their deadly attacks (Schmitt 1).

The al-Qaeda terror network is known to use the internet extensively to spread its hateful messages and inspire acts of terrorism against Western targets. Without the internet, terrorists would not have such an efficient medium through which to spread their messages. It is therefore conceivable that the world would be safer without the internet to facilitate the spread of international terrorism.

The internet has given governments the tools with which to engage in pervasive surveillance of their citizens. While we live in an open community where freedom is guaranteed, the government may want to keep track of its citizens. In the past, attempts by the governments to engage in surveillance have been met with resistance.

However, the internet has provided an efficient and cheap means for the governments to track people and keep records of their communication often without their consent. By gathering information from sources such as Internet Service Providers, search engines, and Social Networking Sites, the government can build profiles of individuals and invade privacy. A report by the CNN ominously warns that thanks to the internet, “our surveillance state is efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell” (Schneier 1).

The internet has made it possible for a person’s private information to be accessed and stored by third parties. The US government has engaged in spying activities on its own citizens without their consent or knowledge. The internet has therefore contributed to the dramatic infringement of personal privacy by the government and made our society less free.

The internet has played a part in the prevalence of moral decay by providing individuals with decadent material. The internet is the largest repository of information in the world. Among this information is material of a questionable moral caliber such as pornography. A report by the BBC states that four in every ten individuals who use the internet are subjected to pornographic material (1).

This report is corroborated by the fact that the pornography industry has grown into a multi-million dollar industry with many pornography websites appearing online. Pornography is damaging to the society since it leads to a pervasion of sexual acts and promotes acts of violence such as rape.

Reports indicate that many convicted rapists and child molesters cite pornography as a trigger to their damaging actions (BBC 1). Proponents of the internet argue that there was still decadent material in the society before the invention of the internet. They claim that photographic material could be obtained through magazines and even bootleg tapes. These claims are true since offensive material has been in the society since the invention of the printing press.

However, the spread of this material before the internet was restricted and it occurred in a regulated fashion. A report by the BBC reveals that since the arrival of the internet, “pornography is far more readily available and less regulated” (1). Without the internet, it would be harder for people to access pornographic material. The society would therefore be protected from the negative effects of this decadent material.

Advocates of the internet assert that is has contributed to the growth and development of society. Industries and Businesses have benefited from improved efficiency and effectiveness due to the internet. Increased productivity in organizations has resulted in economic growth, which is a desirable outcome for the society.

The internet has also enhanced scientific research and innovation by making it easy for various professionals to work collaboratively through the internet. It has increased the research abilities of various professionals therefore contributing to the development of our society. Knut asserts that the internet has served as an enabler for all forms of innovation in the society (1). This positive attributes of the internet are all true and the prevalence of the internet has greatly affected societies and the economy.

However, it should be noted that innovation and research would still have occurred even without the presence of the internet. Economic growth and prosperity was in action for decades before the advent of the internet. What the internet has done is increase the rate at which economic growth and technological advancement has taken place in society. It would therefore be wrong to assume that there would be no development if the internet was not invented.

While the internet has been hailed as the “most important technology” developed, it has led to much harm to society. This paper has argued that the world would be a better place if the internet had not been invented. To buttress this assertion, the paper has highlighted how the internet has contributed to the rising insecurity and violence in the world. The internet has made it easy for international terrorism organizations to expand their influence.

It has noted that governments can infringe upon the freedom of their citizens more efficiently because of the internet. The paper has also highlighted the contribution that the internet has played to moral decay. However, the paper has also acknowledged the positive contributions that the internet has played in society. Even so, the positive contributions are outweighed by the negative influences that the internet has had. It can therefore be declared that the society would be better off if the internet had never been invented.

BBC. The internet and Pornography . 2011. Web.

Knut, Blind. The Internet as Enabler for New Forms of Innovation: New Challenges for Research. 2011. Web.

Schmitt, Eric. Boston Plotters Said to Initially Target July 4 for Attack . 2013. Web.

Schneier, Bruce. The internet is a surveillance State . 2013. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/has-the-internet-had-an-overall-positive-or-negative-effect-on-the-society/

"Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay." IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/has-the-internet-had-an-overall-positive-or-negative-effect-on-the-society/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/has-the-internet-had-an-overall-positive-or-negative-effect-on-the-society/.

1. IvyPanda . "Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/has-the-internet-had-an-overall-positive-or-negative-effect-on-the-society/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Has the Internet Positively or Negatively Impacted Human Society? Argumentative Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/has-the-internet-had-an-overall-positive-or-negative-effect-on-the-society/.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Internet Censorship — Why The Internet Should Be Censored

Why The Internet Should Be Censored

• Categories: Censorship Internet Censorship

About this sample

Words: 397 |

Published: Apr 11, 2022

Words: 397 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

Works Cited

• Chaudhry, P., & Yousaf, R. (2015). Cyberbullying in Pakistan: An Exploratory Investigation. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 9(2), 134-149.
• Chen, R., Ang, R. P., & He, W. (2008). Internet use and cyberbullying among Chinese adolescents: Mediating effects of self-esteem. Child Abuse & Neglect, 32(9), 777-790.
• Dhir, A., Yossatorn, Y., Kaur, P., & Chen, S. (2018). Online social media fatigue and psychological wellbeing—A study of compulsive use, fear of missing out, fatigue, anxiety and depression. International Journal of Information Management, 40, 141-152.
• Duggan, M., Lenhart, A., Lampe, C., & Ellison, N. (2015). Parents and social media. Pew Research Center.
• Frosio, G. F. (2019). Reconciling Copyright with Cumulative Creativity: The Third Paradigm. Cambridge University Press.
• Hugenholtz, P. B. (2006). The expanding scope of the piracy conundrum. International Journal of Technology Management, 33(1/2), 127-143.
• Livingstone, S., & Haddon, L. (Eds.). (2009). Kids online: Opportunities and risks for children. Policy Press.
• Livingstone, S., & Smith, P. K. (2014). Annual research review: Harms experienced by child users of online and mobile technologies: The nature, prevalence and management of sexual and aggressive risks in the digital age. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(6), 635-654.
• McSherry, C. (2011). Unmasking the evils of internet censorship: Aim, scope, and consistency of filtering in twelve countries. UC Davis L. Rev., 45, 853.
• Oliver, M. B., & Bartsch, A. (2011). Appreciation as audience response: Exploring entertainment gratifications beyond hedonism. Human Communication Research, 37(1), 53-81.

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