Wayne County, Michigan, is implementing a groundbreaking initiative to monitor teens' social media activity as a strategy to prevent violence. The county plans to hire a 'youth intelligence specialist' who will track interactions on platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, aiming to address rising gun violence among teenagers. While officials express urgency amid alarming statisticsâfrom tripling gun violence deaths from 2019 to 2022âconcerns about privacy violations and potential misinterpretation of social media content have arisen, sparking debate on the ethical implications of the initiative in policing online behavior.
"Young people are dying and young people are losing their freedom. This is something that we believe is driving violence. We want our young people to know these social media beefs have got to stop. And if you're going to do it, understand we're monitoring you."
"Using it to make these kinds of high stakes determinations about when a youth is going to have some kind of intervention is really concerning ... at least without knowing if there is extremely clear guidance and oversight in that activity."
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