The power of the Internet for the good and the bad

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Father Shay Cullen, 
www.preda.org

On June 22, something shocking shattered the peace at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte. At around 9:13am that day, two young boys, aged 14 and 15, opened fire on campus. The horrifying attack claimed the lives of three students and left 20 others injured. The teenage shooters were believed to have been influenced by violent content on the Internet.

Social media platforms are not public services. They are moneymaking machines owned by moguls whose sole desire and purpose in life, it seems, is to make billions of dollars and further enrich themselves, never mind the consequences.

Internet service providers [ISPs] use engagement-driven algorithms designed to lure young audiences and get them addicted to watching harmful content. 

Algorithms are computer instructions like “digital robots” that gather information about you and know your likes and dislikes, your habits, and what you search online. Then they track you and know what and how long you watch a video. It combines your viewing data with personal information—age, device type, location—to predict what you want to see next, or not. 

They will send you unwanted, sensational and extreme content showing violence, pornography, child abuse, and even violent extremism, like what those two Tacloban boys imitated. 

Social media platforms are not public services. They are moneymaking machines owned by moguls whose sole desire and purpose in life, it seems, is to make billions of dollars and further enrich themselves, never mind the consequences

ISPs have done little to block such evil and damaging content despite Philippine law demanding them to do so.

An estimated 500,000 Filipino children—or about one in 100 in the country—were trafficked to produce new child sexual exploitation material or subjected to livestreamed abuse in a single year. 

Assessments from the United Nations Children’s Fund say that up to two million Internet-using children aged 12 to 17 have experienced some form of online sexual abuse or exploitation.

Offshore sex offenders pay as little as US$15 to US$25 a session. According to the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council, transactions originating from the United States trigger the largest volume of suspicious financial reports related to the online sexual abuse or exploitation of children.

The Philippine law is strict but largely ignored. Republic Act 11930, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act, instructs telecommunications companies to install state-of-the-art blocking software, but they don’t. Corrupt officials take bribes to ignore the violations of the law. 

Assessments from the United Nations Children’s Fund say that up to two million Internet-using children aged 12 to 17 have experienced some form of online sexual abuse or exploitation

These intrusions into the life of users can cause severe psychological harm in children, including rising rates of anxiety, depression and sleep deprivation. They can also drive young people to violent actions.

Banning young people from social media is like stopping a bird from flying. Furthermore, there are fundamental rights to be respected, like of free speech and freedom of expression, which good, positive and educational platforms provide and give access to educational material. 

Besides, smart young people nowadays can use virtual private networks, which shield them from detection when using the Internet to access certain websites. 

Such a ban would prevent young people from accessing help sites. It would also entice children to visit restricted sites and become all the more vulnerable and subject to online sexual abuse, grooming and blackmail. 

It is the providers and enablers of the dangerous online material that must be curbed more. Restrictions to keep children from accessing certain sites are welcome; they can help save them from abuse. More importantly, those sites should be identified and blocked.

Banning young people from social media is like stopping a bird from flying. Furthermore, there are fundamental rights to be respected, like of free speech and freedom of expression…

Restricted use

Another recent Internet-related issue arose when the US military and the White House allegedly ordered restrictions on the Starshield satellite Internet system—the military variant of Starlink—used by Ukraine. As a result, Ukrainian drones were unable to attack Russian oil refineries.

US president, Donald Trump, who claims to be a friend of Russian president, Vladimir Putin, made a deal to buy Russian diesel. Diesel is currently in short supply in the US, hindering the efforts of Trump’s Republican Party to maintain control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections this year.

The Internet restrictions pressured Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries. Oil sales are the source of Russia’s wealth and help to fund Putin’s war on Ukraine.

It prevented Ukrainian drones from reaching their targets, while Russian drones and missiles continued to rain down on Ukraine’s cities and power stations. Zelenskyy has spoken out against the deal, stating that it empowered the Russian economy and, by extension, enabled Putin to continue his attacks. In effect, Zelenskyy argued that Trump was assisting Russia in its assault on Ukraine.

The Internet restrictions also placed Ukrainians in greater danger, as there were no warnings of incoming Russian attacks. The satellite restrictions severely compromised Ukraine’s defence systems. 

Without proper connectivity, Ukrainian forces were unable to receive early air raid warnings or effectively intercept a subsequent barrage of over 850 Russian drones. As a result, more people died in the bombardments

Without proper connectivity, Ukrainian forces were unable to receive early air raid warnings or effectively intercept a subsequent barrage of over 850 Russian drones. As a result, more people died in the bombardments.

The US explicitly threatened to stop exchanging critical military intelligence if Ukraine refused to halt its drone attacks on Russian refineries. Following Ukraine’s resumption of strikes against a Rosneft refinery in Ryazan, Trump labelled the actions a “disgrace” and publicly declared that Ukraine needs a new president. 

Zelenskyy said in an interview that the moves mean “Ukraine is losing a strong partner in the US” and that Trump is being pushed onto the wrong side of history. European allies have also expressed intense frustration and anger, viewing the US actions as a major stab in the back to the Western coalition.