Social media users should do their bit to secure their content: Arnika Singh

Arnika Singh at Democracy Wall | ThePrint.in

At Democracy Wall, online expert says children must be educated on cyber issues, and urges users not to blindly respond to trolls.

New Delhi: Social media users should do their bit to secure their content on online platforms by particularly going through safety features that apps offer, said Arnika Singh, an online expert from the Centre for Social Research.

“The onus is on social media platforms to make sure users are safe but users also need to do at least 50 per cent of their bit.  Every social media platform has safety mechanisms and people need to be aware of them,” Singh said.  

“If you use the settings, things can be made private. People need to understand that we do not need 6,000 friends on Facebook whom we don’t know.  Users have to ensure their content is controlled and not going out to everybody,” she added.

Singh was in conversation with Chitleen K. Sethi, associate editor at ThePrint, at the ninth edition of Democracy Wall.

The online expert further urged online users to review safety updates, which apps put up, from time to time.  “Most of us are busy putting out selfies or emoting. But once in a while, we need to visit the safety settings and see if there is an update and make sure our content is controlled.  They have given you a tool, you need to use it,” Singh said.

Democracy Wall is a monthly free speech campus initiative organised by ThePrint in collaboration with Facebook. The event was held at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar. Politicians Vijay Inder Singla and Bhagwant Mann, actor Ayushmann Khurrana, rapper Feyago and comedian Abijit Ganguly were the other speakers at the event.

Children should be educated on safety, abuse

Singh also urged parents to talk to children on issues of safety, cyberbullying, and abuse. Parents, she said, were unaware that they had to speak to children on these issues right from an early age.

“It’s a conversation that needs to start from the very beginning and then you gradually enrol them into digital citizenship,” Singh said.

The online experts also offered tips on responding to trolls and cyber abuse. The essence of replying to trolls, she said, was in comprehending the context of a troll’s premise and responding appropriately. The intention of a troll, she said, is to always elicit a reaction and urged users not to blindly respond.

“All content has intent. Understand what and why it’s written. It’ll be easier to react after that. A subtle reaction will make sure that your troller is dead. To every hate speech, the best response is better speech,” she said.

Singh, however, added that at the end of the day, users are the owners of the online space and can control how it affects them. She added that those who are lucky enough to have 24 hours of Internet connection should seriously ponder over how best they can utilise the digital space.