Socialists on the Net: more regulations for the Virtual State (2010)

If one compares the growth of social networks to that of a child, observing its growth in such a short time, one would have the legitimate doubt that the child has taken steroids or is at least suffering from gigantism. This comparison is borne out by the figure announced by Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, the world’s most popular social network, which has attracted 400 million active users just over the last six years, creating a ‘virtual state’, second in population only to China and India. Unlike the real nations to which they belong, the citizens of social networks are (theoretically) over 13 years old, reside all over the world, have different cultures, languages and customs, are not divided by the census, castes or social and work positions, exercise their rights through a computer, a mouse and a keyboard and have a single purpose: to communicate and share information. With this study on the Italian ‘case’, Eurispes wanted to highlight the way Facebook is used, but also some particular problems related to privacy and youth protection.