Social Media: The Check

There are eight values that go with free expression: Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation and Protect Dissent. Free expression facilitates each of these values within the United States, or at the very least is meant to. Of the Eight Values of Free Expression, the one that I find the most important is Check on Governmental Power. Accountability is necessary in a democracy. Although the United States government holds itself accountable through checks and balances of the branches, it ought to also be kept in check by its principal, the people. In The Checking Value in First Amendment Theory, Vince Blasi explains free expressions, and its role in keeping a check on the abuses of government. With an ever-changing political and social climate, it is necessary and important for the government to be held responsible. 

Although Check on Governmental Power is just one of the Eight Values of Free Expression, it actually encapsulates the essence of some other values. For one, Check on Governmental Power and Participation in Government go hand-in-hand. Free expression acts as a source of information for citizens. Without free expression, citizens may not have the ability to make wise and informed decisions in elections. With elections being one way of holding the government accountable, the type of knowledge acquired through free expression is the knowledge necessary to keep the government in check.

Check on the Government also relates to the value of Protecting Dissent. The First Amendment was instituted to ensure the protection of minority views, even despite its unpopularity. Free expression was meant to help in the prevention of mob rule, but it was also meant to protect a citizen’s freedom to disagree with the government. As argued by Steve Shiffrin in Dissent, Injustice, and the Meanings of America, dissent ought to be promoted as it is the core of free speech. Free Expression and dissent combat injustice. It acts as a check on the government by allowing citizens to express their grievances with their government. Without free expression, or if it were suppressed, the government would not be made aware of the injustices they commit. 

To make more sense of this idea of checking governmental power, we can look at how social media is being used today in the US government. We live in an age where US politicians and offices have their own social media accounts to spread their own news and ideas, and connect with the people better. Many everyday citizens use social media to collect their news, whether it be directly from a politician or office’s account, or from another account. From there, many people will repost the news they find, or share news they have read about, often expressing grievances they have with the government. Free expression regarding the government on social media is almost like a cycle this way: read and repost. With many members of the US government having social media accounts, the citizens’ read and repost cycle gets the attention of the government. Social media has become a major amplifier of Americans’ voices in government. In this way, it has served as a major checking tool on governmental powers as it is a news source for participation in self-government, and amplifies dissents.

In the United States, we see the most exchange between the government and Americans when social media is brought into play. Social media has encouraged more and more Americans to vote since the 2008 election, and played a tremendous role in the recent 2020 election. Social media has also played a major role in amplifying the voice of the minority, more specifically women and people of color in recent years in regards to Roe v. Wade and Black Lives Matter. Free expression is not a new practice in the United States by any means. However, free expression now has the opportunity to be amplified more than ever with social media. Voices from all around the world can be shared with anyone. With that, people have more access to knowledge and resources. There is more pressure on citizens to speak out on the injustices their government commits and hold the government accountable.

Being politically active in this day and age has made me resonate with the value of checking governmental power more than any other value. As a young adult who uses social media relatively regularly, I see lots of posts regarding the US and foreign governments quite frequently. Most of these posts are expressing dissent towards the governments, and seem to be meant to rally support behind that dissent. Eventually, I cannot make it through my feed without the same dissent coming across my screen with each consecutive post at times. It is something I find interesting and useful in politics. The mere effect of one person posting a dissent and the chain reaction of people reposting the same is astonishing. Social media is a powerful tool as it reaches such an extensive audience.