Innovative Bioethics Forum

After many exciting conversations and iterative drafts, we submitted papers to two journals this week.

The first, TikTok’s Influence on Social Health and Democracy: A Bioethical Perspective, evaluates the risks TikTok’s ownership poses to social health and democracy. The authors, Joel Janhonen, Anne Zimmerman, and Olivia Bowers present a two-fold argument. First, they assert that people may be susceptible to foreign influence, polarization, and anti-democracy sentiment. TikTok’s inorganic trend setting and incentives that influencers have to create content accordingly differs slightly from other social media platforms. Unlike Facebook, TikTok is more focused on interests than on people and social connections. It uses a social-interest graph rather than just a social graph or space where friends share pictures, videos, and updates. Secondly, the authors explore evidence of soft power arguing that the PRC may intend to engage in soft power through TikTok, where it would benefit both from increased access to personal information and the inorganic trend setting. Unlike many papers focused on TikTok in light of the congressional hearings and the potential ban that passed both the House and Senate, the authors dedicate their concern to influence rather than privacy/cybersecurity.

The second paper, Right to Information During Migration: A Call for Transparency and Internet Access, was sparked by the events of September 14, 2022, when Governor DeSantis transported two planes of recently arrived migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. The authors, Anne Zimmerman, Cathy Purvis Lively, and Olivia Bowers, applied a human rights framework. They focused on the right to information set forth in the Principles and Guidelines on the Human Rights Protections of Migrants in Vulnerable Situations. The guidelines call for internet access among other supports. The role of the internet in deciding whether to migrate, choosing a destination, and ensuring safety along the way is crucial. Access to housing, jobs, and education require a knowledge base that is accurate. Freedom from deception is a more obvious right. Three governors of southern states violated the right to information by misinforming migrants. The lies included promises that relocation would be free, and that the destinations would provide employment assistance, expedited work papers, and help securing housing. Cash assistance was also promised. Some of the migrants transported to Martha’s Vineyard are plaintiffs in a lawsuit in federal court in Massachusetts. Many have also obtained U-visas as they were victims of fraud. The authors support a more robust recognition of the right to information.