Extract from Page Vault’s article “User Anonymity And Legal Accountability On Social Media”
Per the Electronic Privacy Information Center, anonymity is a vital democratic concept, enabling individuals to participate in politics, disseminate ideas, express views, and practice spiritual beliefs without fearing public retaliation or government intervention. Maintaining anonymity online can be difficult, as the collection of identifying information is a common practice in social media and other digital industries, and the uses of that data, including redistribution to third parties, are often unclear. Digital surveillance can endanger the ability of a person to express themselves without someone knowing who they are and put them at risk of retaliation; on the other hand, one notable drawback of social media anonymity is the lack of accountability when freedom of expression is abused.
Understanding User Anonymity and Legal Accountability
Maintaining anonymity online, such as on social media networks, involves hiding a person’s true identity when visiting websites, typically achieved through a combination of using a username and contact details that do not reveal the individual’s identity in conjunction with utilizing a proxy server or virtual private network (VPN) to conceal the visitor’s internet protocol (IP) address. According to the United States Institute of Peace, accountability concerns the structures, conventions, and processes holding individuals to account for the acts they commit. In a social media context, the concept of accountability refers to introducing systems that stop users from committing acts that violate the law and the platform’s terms of service. The effectiveness of these systems may be diminished when it is not possible to determine the user’s identity.
What Are the Benefits of Anonymity on Social Media?
Social media anonymity provides users with the following advantages:
- Encourages whistleblowing: Importantly, social media anonymity encourages those visiting these platforms to use them to become whistleblowers; this enables them to point out injustices in certain situations, such as in the workplace, without the danger of possible repercussions, like losing their job.
