This post is in response to the question "Should Big Tech companies be required to allow their users to broadcast messages to their 'friends' network whenever they switch to a new platform, inviting their 'friends' to join them on the new platform?"
I have a couple opinions on this prompt. I am for allowing messages to be broadcast across various platforms for the reasons of users choice and easy transference between them as well as the competition it would create. However, I am against broadcasting messages across various platforms because of the lack of privacy and potential to be hacked.
The first reason, that ultimately interconnects with them all, that I am in support of transferring data and messages between platforms is because it leaves the consumer with the choice of which platform they will use. At the state of platforms currently, there is a huge dependency among users because of the fear to lose data and because as a whole, the general population sticks to the same platforms. However, if the data were more easily transferred and allowed users to switch platforms at their own free will without fear of losing data/history, that would then push the platform companies to compete with each other. As the market goes, that means the consumer experience will then be focused on more in order to maintain the consumers they already hold. More competition means better quality for consumers. Also, this would allow more transference of ideas among people and make it substantially easier to connect with a greater audience. This would them be beneficial for companies and other people trying to reach as much of the population as possible.
However, this allowance of messages and data to be openly shared among platforms causes a large number of security concerns. With the rapid updating of technology, in comes more ways to hack that exact technology. Recently, platforms have been getting hacked all too frequently, so what is expected when you allow the transference of data to more platforms. Now, while hackers would have to target a single platform and its data, they now have access to all of the data combined which causes a must greater risk for consumers.
This question, in my opinion, has a substantial amount of gray area that makes it difficult to consider. There are a substantial number of benefits to allowing the broadcast of messages across various platforms, however, with that comes a great deal of risk. It's just whether or not the risk would be worth it for the general public.
