UPSC Mains 2025 GS4 Q1a: model answer
In the present digital age, social media has revolutionised our way of communication and interaction. However, it has raised several ethical issues and challenges. Describe the key ethical dilemmas in this regard.
What the question wants
Name the main ethical dilemmas social media creates, each as a clash of two values.
How to structure it
Intro: gains of social media. Body: (1) Free speech vs harm; (2) Privacy vs convenience; (3) Truth vs virality; (4) Anonymity vs accountability. Conclusion: digital ethics.
- 1(1) Free speech vs harm
- 2(2) Privacy vs convenience
- 3(3) Truth vs virality
- 4(4) Anonymity vs accountability
Model answer
Social media has given every person a voice and every cause an audience. The same reach, however, creates real clashes of values.
- Free speech vs harm: where does opinion end and hate speech or incitement begin? Platforms and governments both struggle to draw the line.
- Privacy vs convenience: free services are paid for with personal data; users rarely give informed consent.
- Truth vs virality: algorithms reward outrage, so fake news travels faster than corrections, as seen in mob lynchings driven by WhatsApp rumours.
- Anonymity vs accountability: anonymity protects whistle-blowers but also trolls.
- Self-image vs mental health: constant comparison harms teenagers' self-esteem.
- Regulation vs censorship: takedown orders can protect people or silence critics.
- Public servants: personal opinions online versus neutrality expected by conduct rules.
Laws such as the IT Rules, 2021 and the DPDP Act, 2023 help, but no rule can replace personal restraint. Thinking before sharing is the simplest digital ethic.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
free speech vs harm privacy misinformation anonymity algorithmic amplification
Where most answers lose marks
- Listing problems without framing them as dilemmas.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/GENERAL-STUDIES-PAPER-IV-QP-CSM-25-010925.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.