por ALBERTO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/NEWSROOM
IMAGE: https://pixabay.com/es/users/geralt-9301/
The role digital platforms play, and their relation with individual rights, such as freedom of expression and access to information, which are overseen by current Mexican regulations, is the central point of the Bill to regulate the operation of social networks in Mexico, presented to the Senate, has caused a considerable controversy, said Armando Reyna Ballesteros, professor at CETYS University Campus Mexicali.
It is necessary to reform the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law so that the Federal Telecommunications Institute establishes limits to service providers of social networks, arguing discretionary censorship of the content that circulates on networks, with its causes not corresponding to any legal regulation; but to the interests and internal policies of the platforms, and mentioning that blocking content obstructs the right to receive information and empowers the platforms, covered by their terms and conditions of service, to impose specific ideas.
“We must reflect on whether this initiative truly protects citizens, since it would seem that it seeks to convey the perception that users are victims and are captive to the whims of the service providers. The initiative does not reflect all the points of view involved”, he pointed.
He added that it is a complex issue made up of multiple edges, because, although digital violence is a real problem, there are other behaviors that are difficult to perceive because they lend themselves to a double interpretation, for example, where does individual freedom of expression end? At what point does it begin to affect third parties or is a law violated? And perhaps most importantly, is government intervention to carry out regulation reliable?
Social media networks are free spaces open to debate. People may intentionally misrepresent its use for their own convenience; even governments and other figures in public life, politics and other sectors, so that, although the initiative seems to have good intentions, these are not enough, since it leaves holes for manipulation and authoritarianism, he finally said.
