INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

Summary. The proposed study addresses the eternal question of individual freedom, which is relevant in the era of rapid and active development of social media (social networks, in particular). The relevance of the article is due to the significant impact of globalisation and digitalisation on all spheres of life of a modern person, which provide new opportunities for new/old/other selfpresentation on social media, and at the same time raise new questions about the process of exercising individual freedom, responsibility and its new boundaries. And the main question is who should protect this freedom? The purpose of the article is to analyse the essence of the phenomenon of freedom and to search for its limits in the digital space (social media), highlighting the positive and problematic aspects of this issue. In order to achieve this goal, the author of the proposed study used a range of the following scientific methods. The basis of the proposed study is the comparative historical method. Using this method, the author analysed the evolution of the idea of individual freedom from antiquity to modern times. The application of the second method, the hermeneutic method, made it possible to explore and reveal the content of the concept of freedom in the context of digital communications through the analysis of texts, laws on human rights protection and meanings. The scientific novelty of the study is to specify the concept of freedom within the modern digital space, taking into account such aspects as freedom of speech, freedom of choice, ‘digital identity’, hate speech, digital rhetoric, responsibility, and protection of a person on social media. At the end of the article, the author concludes that freedom is a phenomenon that is simultaneously controlled by internal regulators and law (in particular). And social media, on the one hand, create new spaces and opportunities for creativity, self-expression, and human expression (new forms and manifestations of freedom), and on the other hand, they are a space with their own laws to protect privacy and personality. The prospects for ensuring freedom in social networks and, at the same time, physical security of a person depend on the laws, companies that own (create) networks and users themselves.