Why Americans should Discuss the Privacy v. Security Dilemma regarding social media

Today cyberspace, encompassing the internet, computers, and digital communication, is one of the most essential aspects that enables modern daily life. The vast majority of people worldwide use cyberspace in some way. As reported as of October 2024, there are 5.52 billion internet users worldwide (67.5% of the global population) and of these, 5.22 billion are social media users (63.8% of the global population).[1] Thus many of us are familiar with social media privacy policy agreements that grant access to our personal data. This access to personal data should be a key discussion among Americans in the wake of the threat to ban Tik Tok, and the influence of social media in politics. We are the consumers of these social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Tik Tok, Instagram, Discord and more, that are testifying before U.S. congressional committees. These actions taken by Congress and the social media platforms should spark conversation about how we as U.S. citizens feel about our privacy in relation to our own security.

Unfortunately, the privacy v. security dilemma is not explicitly discussed in public circles, but there are aspects that feed the necessity for all of us to ask ourselves the crucial question. How much of my own privacy am I willing to give up to feel safe? It is not a new concept that we understand our data is being collected by these ever-growing social media companies, but the extent may be what many consumers are unaware of. According to a Federal Trade Commission Report in 2024 about data collected in 2020, social media companies were engaged in “vast surveillance” campaigns, collecting data of their users such as location, name, phone identification, access to videos, access to images, browser history, emails, who the user communicates with, how long a user is active with the app and more.[2] [3] This consumer data is then available for trade between third parties, and other companies to use for targeted advertisement and tracking. Although, within the United States, this dilemma goes farther back than 2020. Another example of how prevalent the privacy v. security dilemma is in the 21^st Century stems back to the early 2000s.

In the early 2000s after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the U.S. government rushed to respond to this national crisis, in one way, enacting the U.S. PATRIOT Act (Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism). The Patriot Act did several things such as providing law enforcement with surveillance tools and authorities to identify plots of terrorist acts, detect terrorists internal and external to the U.S. and increase the penalties associated with terrorist crimes.[4] [5] Although initially the Patriot Act was met with strong support as the U.S. Department of Defense started the Global War on Terror, as time went on, critics started to identify issues with the actions taken by law enforcement. Instead, critics saw that the Patriot Act infringed on U.S. citizen’s rights to privacy and their civil liberties identified in the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution.[6]

These actions identified as “too far” by law enforcement, included the conduct of secret searches and surveillance of communications without probable cause, and under the protection of the Patriot Act, the authority of these searches could be delayed so to not “tip-off” a possible terrorist. Further, there were other instances of controversial seizure of phone records from telephone companies without the need to identify reasonable suspicion.[7] Herein lies the debate of privacy v. security. The Patriot Act was intended to provide public security for U.S. citizens, as it is the duty of a government to ensure the security of its people. But, to provide this security, the individual privacy of the people was impacted.

These two examples between the Patriot Act and social media have one key difference between them. With the Patriot Act the U.S. government enacted and enforced this surveillance for the purposes of security for the American people. While social media companies have access to much of the same data but Americans do not get an increase of security. Which begs the question, why do we as consumers provide this data freely, and allow these social media companies to collect, track and store our data for their own uses?

Americans should be asking themselves the question as it comes to cyberspace and social media, what level of privacy am I okay with, for the protection of public security for all U.S. peoples? Each person should have the right to control their personal information and how it is used, at the same time, should be provided the security and protection against threats and danger by their government.[8] Thus, security and privacy are on a scale. On one side when the need for public security increases, the protection of personal privacy decreases. Vice versa, when the need to protect personal privacy goes up, the ability to maintain public security goes down. This teeter totter also encompasses not only the private security of each citizen but the national security as well.

Social media data and private information are key aspects to open-source information that the adversaries of the United States can collect, exploit and influence. Along with asking ourselves how much of our data are we willing to make available to the U.S. government, we should also be concerned how much data that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea have as well. The national security of the United States is directly impacted by how much private information that we allow adversaries to collect. Our data could then be stored, used to create profiles, or our profiles could be targeted for blackmail, threats to our personal security, and compromising our family’s security through financial means. This aspect of the security v. privacy dilemma itself is a piece that is forgotten. If we allow access to our data, who else are we allowing the same access to use and collect? Thus, balancing the scale, and keeping hold some of our data, while allowing access to some can assist in national security, then improving personal security.

What every U.S. policy maker and U.S. citizen should debate about when faced with cyberspace issues is this very balance. Having a system that ensures the people’s right to privacy is protected while simultaneously providing nationwide security, is when both domestic and international security is maintained.

The views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense, the Department of the Air Force, or the U.S. Government.