Description
Ned Ryun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, American Majority, Author George Hawley, Alexandra Woodward, Digital Organizing Director, Organizing for Action and Katie Harbath, Facebook’s director of global politics and government outreach, speak about the role of social media in democracy. They talked about the advantages and disadvantages that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have on politics, civic engagement and about potential ways of regulating such technology companies.
Procedures
STEP 1:
HANDOUT: Social Media's Role in Democracy (Google Doc)
Ask students to write a brief response to the following question either for homework to be prepared for class or as a bell ringer activity when they enter the classroom:
"What impact does social media have on democracy?"
Discuss students' perspectives on the issue to lay a foundation for this lesson.
As a class, view the video below and ask students to consider the accompanying questions as they view the videos in this lesson.
Video Clip 1: Social Media's Role in Democracy: Background (2:15)
John Samples, Vice President and Publisher Cato Institute, provides background and historical information on the positive and negative sides of social media in a democracy.
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Does social media threaten democracy?
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What is the role of gatekeepers?
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Should all perspectives be permitted to share their views on social media sites? What impact could this have?
- What changes, if any, could be made to sharing content online without limiting free speech?
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STEP 2:
Ask students to view the following videos and take notes on the accompanying handout. This can be done as an individual or jigsaw activity. Students can discuss the perspective presented in the video with their group and be prepared to explain the topic during class discussion.
Video Clip 2: Regulation (5:44)
Ned Ryun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, American Majority, talks about free speech and social media's impact on democracy. He discusses the impact of data collection and algorithms as well as the regulation of social media entities.
Video Clip 3: Equalizer (7:27)
Author of "Making Sense of the Alt-Right" George Hawley discusses social media as an equalizer among users to share their views.
Video Clip 4: Civic Engagement (7:25)
Alexandra Woodward, Digital Organizing Director, Organizing for Action, talks about the effects of social media on society including the impact on civic engagement and social disintegration.
Video Clip 5: Implementing Change (7:22)
Katie Harbath, Director, Facebook, Global Politics, discusses improvements the company has been implementing including combating foreign interference, addressing the issue of fake accounts, news, ads transparency, security and civic engagement.
STEP 3:
After discussing the clips, view the following video to hear Facebook Director of Global Politics Katie Harbath explain the changes the company has made regarding the posting of political and issue ads on its platform.
Video Clip 6: Political, Issue Ads and Social Media (1:36)
STEP 4:
Writing Assignment:
What solutions would you propose?
Ask students to consider the information from the videos and class discussion and write a persuasive essay detailing their opinions regarding the issues of data collection, regulation, free speech and civic engagement and describe any changes they would like to see made.
Additional Resources
- Bell Ringer: Social Media and Data Collection
Author and professor Zeynep Tufekci explains how algorithms used by social media sites can make inferences about users and how that can impact the public.
- Bell Ringer: Social Media
Author and professor Zeynep Tufekci explains how social media sites use algorithms to deliver information to users.
- Lesson Plan: Senate Committee Hearing on Social Media & Russian Interference
The Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing on Russia and social media influence in the 2016 election. Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google testified about the measures their companies are taking to protect users after the 2016 election from misleading and malicious content. In this lesson, students will hear from elected officials and executives from these corporations regarding Russian interference on social media platforms, see examples of false posts and advertisements and learn about the improvements they plan on making to prevent these circumstances from occurring again.
- Lesson Plan: Student Civic Engagement
Engaging students in civic education cultivates them to become informed and engaged citizens. In this lesson, students will explore the current state of civic education in the U.S., hear viewpoints on engaging students in civic activities as well as experience the actions of their peers across the country as they seek to affect change.
Vocabulary
- Algorithm
- Alt-right
- Arab Spring
- Boomer Generation
- Brexit
- Cambridge Analytica
- Censorship
- Denigrate
- Disclaimer
- Discourse
- Federal Election Commission
- Gatekeeper
- Ideology
- Leverage
- Mitigate
- Monopoly
- National Security Agency
- Occupy Movement
- Telecommunications Act Of 1996
- Transparency
- Trolling