Preventing gun violence and tech’s role
Often, these mass shooters post things online that give hints of their intentions- pics with guns, violent rhetoric, expressing hate or loathing of others. Facebook, instagram, etc all have this information in their systems. Should they/ could they/ do they share this with law enforcement even if it doesn’t cross legal boundaries? Not that law enforcement often does much with the info (as evidenced by this latest shooter who was visited dozens of times) In old times, communities would recognize people that were off or out of line and talk to them, get them help, or ensure they were secured. Is there a role for this in social media technology?
This is something that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube should work together and provide that information to the government.
Mass shootings only really picked up pace about 20 years ago, way before modern social media. Sensationalist news TV and over prescription of antidepressants is probably a much bigger driving favor.
Im not sure, social media has to walk a fine line of catering to their users so that their privacy doesn't feel violated. The average person is already overly paranoid about tech...I have friends who refuse to Google search certain things because they feel they might get flagged by the FBI or think Facebook Messenger is hacking their phone because it requests access to your camera to take a picture. If anything it would have to be something done in conjunction with law enforcement, because I can definitely see the average American feeling better -- if not happy -- at the idea of someone getting their Instagram monitored only after law enforcement received valid reports about them being potential threat. (Maybe this already happens?) That way they get to feel safe, but don't worry about their privacy because they're one of "good guys". So yeah...if social media has any role to play, I think it would have to be done under the direction of law enforcement for users to fully support it.