I ran across a tweet the other day which raised an interesting point about retweeting. Paraphrasing, it suggested that we shouldn’t just consider the content of the retweet, but the why of our retweeting.
Keeping in mind that a retweet is always a form of amplification that can go viral (which means it has the potential for both harm and help), then there is an ethical dimension to retweeting. Therefore, an ethical assessment of one’s retweeting is warranted.
And that means we should consider our retweets through an ethical filter.
For example, a Utilitarian filter may require one to assess whether a retweet will help more people than it will harm, and a Deontological filter may require one to assess and judge what one’s intentions and motives are for a given retweet.
And for me? Well. I think I have room to improve my own ethics of retweeting.