Why The Internet Should Be Regulated

The internet offers a platform and amazing opportunities for speakers such as political candidates or cultural critics. Persons who want to express their opinions are able to do that with the availability of the internet. And also someone can easily get any information online which can be beneficial or not. But it is also important to note that a group of internet participants taken advantage of that opportunity. Some people see the freedom of speech through the internet as a revival to democracy and community. This is because it is easy to find offensive speech and inaccurate information from the internet. This paper will discuss why the internet should be completely regulated.

            The internet should be regulated; this is because it is easy to access a lot of inaccurate information from the internet. For example, someone can easily access information online through some sites such as Wikipedia, and believe whatever he or she is getting is accurate.  Wikipedia as a site allows anyone to access and edit information. Therefore, it is very easy for someone to edit and send misleading information through Wikipedia; this if not regulated then can end up confusing a lot of people. Some of the Wikipedia editors just have interests in the most obscure of subjects thus; they are willing to put what they know online in case someone ever wanted to know. Such information may lead to distortion and if not regulated can even mislead the younger generation. With such inaccuracy of information, Wikipedia proofs as one reason why the internet should be regulated, these are not limited to less encouragement of independent thinkers in regards to opinions, thoughts on judgment and evaluation of information.

            Another reason why the internet should be regulated is based on the offensive speech, the internet as a source can expose people to hate speech. Hate speech mostly occur during political times, and if not regulated then can lead to cases of discrimination or seeing someone less due to his race. This mostly occur when people try to support candidate because he or she is coming from their race, therefore, if internet use on hate speech  is not regulated then such cases may occur. Some people also tend to use insulting words through the internet; such fighting/insulting words can lead to cases of violence when people try to fight back.

            There are also cases of offensive speech from blogs, websites and even chat rooms that  tend to lower dignities of other individuals, such speeches if not regulated then can lead to harassment, violence and even threats of rape cases. What we consume from the internet (speeches) may not be true and in many cases do not give us the real character or identity of a person. This can lead to mistaken identity and mistrust.  There are also some cases of offensive speech coming from commercial adverts.  Commercial speech maybe misleading, offensive or relates to illegal products.  Such use of the internet if not regulated then can threaten the welfare of the young people, who may not be able to identify or validate the accuracy of such speech.

            In conclusion, it is important to regulate the use of the internet, if done so then it will save the society from cases such as inaccurate information and offensive speeches, which can lead to violence, hate speech and even rape in the society.