By Thalya Samuels
Social media is a major aspect of the daily lives of this generation’s teenagers. As of 2015, 92% of teenagers report going online daily according to the Pew Research Center. This vast population of networking teenagers means that there is a lot of social paraphernalia that parents and adults may not be aware of. One of these is the use of a ‘finsta’ account, meaning ‘fake Instagram.’ Also known as a spam account, the purpose of these accounts is to make a user’s more ‘expressive’ content visible to a smaller amount of followers than those present on their main account. There is a broad range of information that could be revealed on a ‘finsta,’ but the most popular among all is gossip and rants. Recently, more and more people have been exposed for the things that they say on their ‘finsta’ accounts. The repercussions have been as extreme as causing the owners of the accounts to be expelled or suspended from their respective universities, jobs, and other associations. Was it a violation of privacy and free speech or were the people that reported it justified?
This happened to University of Alabama student, Harley Barber. Barber had been reported for saying the n-word numerous times during a rant on her Instagram. As a result, she was expelled from the university and kicked out of her sorority. The president of the University of Alabama, Stuart R. Bell regarded the incident as “highly offensive and deeply hurtful.” The university’s Twitter also added that the situation was reported to the Office of Student Conduct, which lead to her expulsion. Something similar happened to a Georgia State University student named Natalia Martinez, who was suspended from the soccer team for using a racial epithet on her ‘finsta’ account.
The aforementioned occurrences are examples of universities taking disciplinary action against racial discrimination. More and more universities are becoming intolerant of the controversial behavior exhibited by students like that of Barber and Martinez. Such universities have made it clear in their code of conduct that such behavior will be reprimanded. People have many opinions on whether these punishments are fair, due to the fact that, despite the offensive nature of the student’s actions, they could be violating the student’s First Amendment right to free speech. “I think their punishment is pretty justified. You can’t just say that word and expect there to be no consequences whatsoever because that’s still an improper word to use and it is still demeaning another person,” Sophomore Kelsey Castillo said. Supporters of the ‘violation of free speech’ claim argue that the student should be allowed to say whatever they please on their private Instagram account. The opposition states that is true, however, the situation is not a matter of censorship, but rather that of misconduct that reflects badly on whichever organizations the student is affiliated with.