For journalists working in today’s fast-paced news environment, social media is an important yet challenging tool. It allows journalists to feel the pulse of society, access a treasure trove of potential sources, and even detect early signs of breaking news. The distinction between what is publicly discussed and what is discussed privately on social media is becoming increasingly ambiguous. It is a challenging question, and answering it requires a nuanced understanding of journalism ethics, terms of service, and evolving privacy issues.
The Irresistible Pull: The Significance of Social Media to Journalism
Before discussing how journalists access social media for research purposes, it is important to understand why social media is an important tool for journalists. Some of the important factors that make social media an important tool for journalists include:
- Authenticity and Raw Information: Social media is important because it allows journalists to access raw, unfiltered information about a particular event. It is important because users tend to express their genuine feelings and emotions about an event as it is happening.
- Source Identification: Social media is important because it acts as a treasure trove of sources. It helps journalists identify individuals who are directly associated with an event.
- Public Sentiments and Trends: Social media is important because it helps journalists understand how an event is being perceived by society.
- Digital Footprints: It is important because it helps journalists access digital footprints of individuals associated with an event.
- Visual and Multimedia Content: Photos, videos, and live content shared on social media can function as important evidence or narrative tools, especially in breaking news stories.
This variety of information is obviously very tempting, however, it’s important to navigate through this information with care, especially if the information isn’t necessarily public.
Defining “Private”: A Spectrum of Access and Expectation
The term “private social media” doesn’t necessarily imply just one meaning. It’s a spectrum. The nuances of these differences are what define ethical journalism:
- Truly Private Accounts/Posts: Accounts that have been designated as “private” on social media platforms such as Instagram or Twitter, meaning only followers have access to the content. The same goes for posts that are only viewable to a certain group on Facebook, or messages in a WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, or Facebook Messenger chat. The user’s expectation of privacy in these instances is obvious.
- Semi-Private/Semi-Public: This includes content that’s only viewable to a certain group of people on Facebook, or content shared in a professional network such as LinkedIn. The content here isn’t necessarily locked down, however, there’s a certain expectation of privacy here as well.
- Public-Facing but Potentially Sensitive: Even if the content is public, there’s a chance that there are sensitive personal details such as home addresses, health information, family pictures. The content here is public, however, the ethical principle of not causing harm comes into play here.
The most important factor in these situations for journalists isn’t necessarily the ease of access to the information, however, the privacy expectation of the individual. The individual’s expectation of privacy is obvious if they’ve restricted access to their content.
The Ethical and Legal Minefield: Boundaries Not to Be Crossed
Treading on social media sites can be a minefield of ethical and legal issues, and journalists have to follow a strict code of ethics.
- Journalistic Ethics (e.g., SPJ Code of Ethics): Ethical codes like “minimize harm,” “act independently,” “be transparent,” and “seek truth and report it” are part of these codes. Misrepresenting, invading privacy, and causing undue harm go against these principles.
- Platform Terms of Service (ToS): Each social media site has its own ToS that users agree to before registering on these sites. Breaching these rules can lead to banning accounts and/or legal action being taken against the user.
- Privacy Laws: Depending on the location, there may be laws regarding the protection of personal information (e.g., GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California) and unauthorized access to computer systems (e.g., Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the USA). Hacking and breaching security to gain access to personal information is illegal and can lead to severe consequences.
- Reputation and Trust: If a journalist or a news organization breaches privacy and uses deceptive practices, it can lead to a severe tarnishing of their reputation and a breakdown in the level of trust that is a fundamental part of ethical journalism.
Legitimate Avenues: How Ethical Journalists Access Social Media
Given these restrictions and the legal and ethical issues that can be raised, how do journalists access social media sites, particularly when researching a story that may involve personal information that may be considered private? The answer to this question would be transparency and seeking permission.
Using Publicly Available Information:
This is the most straightforward and ethical approach. In this approach, the journalists search the profiles and posts of people to gather the required data. This includes posts, comments, shared posts, and other connections. Advanced search tools help to sort the data.
- Archiving Tools: Sometimes, the posts shared by people on social media can be archived by using tools such as the Wayback Machine. This helps to gather data on posts that have been deleted by the users.
- Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Techniques (Ethical Approach): Ethical OSINT includes the gathering and analyzing of data that is available to the general public. This includes:
- Profile Analysis: In this approach, the journalists gather data by analyzing the profiles of people.
- Geo-tagging (if available): This approach includes the analyzing of the location where the posts have been shared by the people.
- Reverse Image Search: In this approach, the images shared by the people on the social media platform are used to gather the required data.
- Network Mapping: In this approach, the connections of the people on the social media platform are monitored to gather the required data.
Direct Permission and Transparency:
- Direct Outreach: In the ethical approach, when a journalist finds a person who has shared relevant posts and has a private account, the most ethical approach is to send a direct message to the person and ask for permission to access the account and interview the person.
- Requesting Access to Private Groups: If the information is contained in a private Facebook group, for example, a journalist could request to be included in the group, again being transparent about their role and purpose. The decision to allow them in the group is then up to the admin of the group. Even if they are allowed in, information shared in these groups has a higher expectation of privacy, which needs to be thought through before publication.
Sourcing Information from Those with Legitimate Access:
Another method is the legitimate source, such as a whistleblower or an employee or a friend of the victim, who already has access to private social media content, such as screenshots of private messages or group discussions, and shares it with the journalist. In such a case, the role of the journalist is to ascertain the authenticity of the shared information, the motives behind the sharing, and the ethical dilemma in publishing such information, with the primary focus being the welfare and protection of the source.
Using Information Provided by News Subjects:
Most often, the subject of the news or the victim/witness may voluntarily provide the journalist with access to their own private social media content, such as screenshots of abusive private messages or private group discussions that may show a conspiracy, in order to prove their point or narrate their experience.
What Constitutes Crossing the Line?
Just as important as defining what an ethical journalist does is defining what an ethical journalist does not do:
- Impersonation/Misrepresentation: Impersonating someone or misrepresenting oneself in order to access private social media accounts or private groups is not ethical and is also illegal and against the ToS of social media sites.
- Hacking/Phishing: Illegal access to private social media accounts is not only illegal but also criminal.
- Exploiting Technical Vulnerabilities: The use of privacy settings violations without permission, using security flaws, is unethical and illegal.
- “Friending” or “Following” Under False Pretenses: The journalist’s identity and intent to gather information for publication without disclosing the same in the friend request is unethical.
Verification and Context: Beyond Access
Regardless of the method employed to access the social media information, the journalist’s role in verifying the information is critical. As discussed above, social media is replete with misinformation, manipulation, and bias. Every piece of information, whether it is an image, a video, or a statement, must be cross-checked and fact-checked and corroborated from multiple independent sources before it is published.
Conclusion: A Tightrope Walk of Ethics and Utility
Journalists are the harbingers of the digital revolution and the information explosion that the digital revolution promises to unleash. The private social media space is replete with clues and information that the journalist may employ to conduct investigative journalism, but the methods employed to access the same must be steeped in ethics and respect for the law and the individual’s right to privacy. The most ethical course of action would be to access the publicly available information and verify the same with the consent and permission of the private social media space user.