Good day to our beloved judges, teachers, and students.

This special
assembly has been called to address the biggest issue, regarding the impact of social
media in manufacturing opinions on violence and peace. I would like to express my
views on it. Social media is a form of electronic communication and networking sites
that allows users to follow and share content and ideas, within an online community. As
stated by Majid Alfifi, like ISIS, they used social media to target enemies and recruit
followers. According to Timothy Summers, Russia, used social media for cyber warfare
and misinformation. Donald Trump, the present president of the United States, uses
Twitter for his campaigns. All of the advertisements, news articles, posts, pictures, and
videos we see on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube stand an opinion. All of
them are contents that can affect or even change someone’s thoughts and beliefs. That
is how powerful social media is. Recently, social media has become a significant part of
our everyday lives and has a massive impact on the behaviour and minds of people
who use it. Indeed, media affects its audiences in both positive as well as negative
manner.
Social media has been a platform in spreading personalized facts and
opinions of people, that results then to a wide range of ideas, where people then
believe, take a stand, and state public opinions, this sometimes results to online
violence. As stated by Behrad (2014), public opinion is a collection of thoughts and
statements of a majority. Majority because it is really rare that all members of society
agree 100% on a specific subject. When we say public opinion, we are actually referring
to the opinion of the majority of the society which divides people because of their stands
especially when we are talking about violence and peace. Concerns have been raised
that social media likely encourages people especially us, the youth, to participate in
violence. Thus, it has a huge impact on our behaviour. As stated by Shreesha Ghosh
(2017), several news report of cyber bullying, criminal activity, gang violence, and
suicide case surfaced and social media appeared to fuel these troubling incidents.
Different views and opinions led us to greater access to firearms and harmful
explosives, and it is even encouraged in social media. Social networks like Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter are considered to be the drivers of violent crimes. They also tend
to instigate people or users into indulging in criminal activities. As specified by Emanuel
Tanay (2012), media induced violence can result in a behaviour where they would likely
use violence to solve their everyday problems. However, social media is not only a
medium of violence but also a great place where we can promote our platforms for
peace through individuals’ views and perceptions. Taking into account, it can be
imperative that we realize the hidden power of social media. It can be used to transform
societies, individuals, and even governments. Social media and the statements of
opinions in it can help spread peace despite all the negativity specifically violence that is
not just happening in the online world but also in real life scenario. Encouraging
opinions among people from different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities can affect
perception on ethnicity, change attitudes, and promote tolerance and mutual
understanding. Thus, it can bridge people or groups who will not otherwise
communicate with one another. Nevertheless, social media has made a huge role on
that.
Social media is very big, where we are free to express what we are feeling.
However, many have forgotten that our world was founded on diversity and differences
on opinion. Though we are free to fight for something and free to express a stand on
something, we should always think of what is right and true. Therefore, let us use our
social media platforms in spreading positivity rather than spreading fake news where it
can affect each other’s mental and emotional state. To God be the Glory. Thank You.