President of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) Major General ANM Muniruzzaman (Retd) has underscored the challenges posed by the seamless transition from physical to virtual existence of people that can complicate democratic practices.
Speaking at a discussion on Tuesday, he also highlighted the necessity of safeguarding personal information as social media is being used for microtargeting and creating micro-profiles as well.
Additionally, he depicted the creation of a generational gap by social media, noting the distinction between the analog era of his generation and the digital era of the current one.
He also voiced concerns about the surveillance over individuals' personal data, emphasizing the need for attention to this issue.
Muniruzzaman highlighted the growing significance of social media's impact on democracy, especially amid multiple upcoming elections worldwide.
Head of English Web, Prothom Alo Ayesha Kabir, Research Analyst, United Nations Development Programme Faisal Bin Majid and Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Engage Media Rezwan Islam were the speakers who elevated the discourse by sharing their insights on the topic under discussion.
Senior Research Fellow, BIPSS Shafqat Munir while delivering his opening remarks said social media has some positive aspects such as it can give people a voice, provide people access to many information and can empower people so that they can become better democratic citizens.
On the other hand, he added, social media can spread disinformation, it can create biasness and divide the society.
Shafqat also mentioned to call attention to the vulnerability of the people of Bangladesh in the realm of social media that Bangladesh has a massive population and its entire internet user population is even higher than the population of many large countries.
Ayesha Kabir presented the event known as “Arab Spring” as an example of a totally social media-oriented movement.
In her opinion, when the discussion is about social media on democracy, we have to be proactive rather than reactive.
“What we lack in our country is a strong fact-checking network”, she said.
Faisal Bin Majid stressed on how politicians are relying on social media to have the attention of the target audience.
He noted the historical influence of newspapers in past elections of Bangladesh, specifically in 1996 and 2001, and the current spread of disinformation via WhatsApp groups in India.
According to Rezwan Islam, roles of individual users, fact-checkers, journalists and others will be pivotal for safeguarding democracy.
He also pointed out the role of social media influencers in making things viral that can be both positive and negative. In his opinion, the quality of journalism has degraded and people are also not aware enough regarding identifying disinformation.
During the interactive session, issues like having control over expression of opinions via social media, data localization, trolling through social media, information being released on dark web, filtering eastern and western propaganda etc. were discussed.
Journalists, academicians and students joined the event.