The public can interact with news, share their ideas, and discover other people’s viewpoints in online comment sections. About the demographics that populate internet comment sections, little is currently known. Who makes online remarks, and why?
Who reads comments made online? What do the general public’s opinions on the best practices in this area? The demographics, opinions, and behaviours of those who make up the online commenting community are discussed in this paper using data from a nationally representative sample of commentators and comment readers.
The government and social media go together like bread and butter. Why? Because social media is a great platform for connecting with customers, launching campaigns, raising awareness for causes, and serving as a crucial tool in crisis communications.
The Centre for Developing Societies (CSDS) conducted a nationwide study, and the results indicate that few people support the idea that people should have the freedom to express opinions that are considered “offensive” or critical of the government on social media.
These results came from a study on media consumption behaviour, which also revealed that newspapers and public broadcaster Doordarshan are much more trusted by the public than private news channels, despite the fact that for most people, television is their primary news source.
According to the results of a national study conducted by the Centre for Growing Societies (CSDS), few people agree that people should be free to express opinions that are considered “offensive” or critical of the government on social media platforms.
Similar trends have emerged in the responses to the topic of whether it should be legal for someone to criticize the government on social media, regardless of how unpleasant or repulsive their views may be.
A nationwide study by the Centre for Developing Societies found that few individuals support the idea that people should be free to express their opinions against the government or ideas that are viewed as “offensive” on social media platforms (CSDS).
According to The Indian Express, the Lokniti program of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies conducted the media consumption behaviour survey in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
Despite the fact that for most individuals, television serves as their primary source of news, the study also revealed that newspapers and the public broadcaster Doordarshan is much more trusted by the public than private news outlets.
The study discovered that “the majority of the respondents carried what may be described as conservative or illiberal sentiments on the question of free speech and expression on social media.”
There were 7,463 respondents, 15 years of age and older, from both urban and rural locations in 19 states. When asked if it should be okay for someone to voice an opinion even if it is offensive, 26% of respondents responded no, while 14% said they partly agreed. 9% of the audience expressed their full support, while 15% stated they were partly in agreement.
Similar trends emerged in the responses to the topic of whether it should be legal for someone to criticise the government on social media, regardless of how unpleasant or repulsive their views may be.
When asked if it should be okay for someone to voice an opinion even if it is offensive, 26% said they completely disagreed, while 14% said they somewhat disagreed. 9% of the audience expressed their full support, while 15% stated they were partly in agreement.
When the question of whether it should be legal for someone to criticize the government on social media, regardless of how unpleasant or repulsive it may be, similar trends emerged.
A similar feeling was also evident when it came to the issue of government surveillance, which, as the research said, was acknowledged but not viewed as unethical by many, with the same respondents responding that they saw nothing wrong with it.
The survey states that “social media users were considerably more likely to be against the idea of the government controlling what can or cannot be posted on social media or WhatsApp than in favor of it.”
Regarding the specific topic of media consumption methods, the poll revealed that the disparity in viewership between TV news channels and newspapers had “widened further,” with TV “almost seven times more dominating.”
However, the survey found that newspapers do better than news websites. Its findings were based on the fact that half of all respondents said they read daily, while two-fifths said they browse news and current affairs websites.
