Degree Name
Master of Science
Graduate Program
Mass Communication and Media Arts
Advisor
Karan, Kavita
Abstract
In today’s society, social media is widely popular to use for many different reasons such as communicating, marketing, networking etc. However, with social media rapidly expanding and the usage growing exponentially, it can become dangerous. Some of these dangers include privacy exposure, invasion of privacy, cyberbullying, harassment, exploitation etc. One of the bigger challenges faced is protecting children and minors on social media, and preventing false news and rumors from circling. While some countries have stricter social media laws and rules implemented by the government, other countries rely on the social media platforms themselves to regulate and protect users from the danger of social media. In this research, two countries; Canada and the United States of America, will be analyzed comparatively based on social media freedom, laws and regulations implemented on the use for social media and what they are for, as well as how they can protect users. The purpose of this research is to find out the political, social and legal system of the two countries under study, to find out the social media use of the countries, to find out the laws, regulations and legislations that are being enacted and implemented on social media in the two countries under study, to find why the legislations were put in place and to find out the reactions from citizens in respective countries regarding these laws.