Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Journal of Business Ethics https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04635-w ORIGINAL PAPER New Moralities for New Media? Assessing the Role of Social Media in Acts of Terror and Providing Points of Deliberation for Business Ethics Ateeq Abdul Rauf 1 Received: 16 September 2019 / Accepted: 26 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020 Abstract New media and technologies such as social media and online platforms are disrupting the way businesses are run and how society functions. This article advises that scholars consider the morality of new media as an area of investigation. While prior literature has given much attention to how social media provides benefts, how it afects society generally, and how it can be used efciently, research on the ethical aspects of new media has received relatively less attention. In an age where matters such as violence, hate crimes, fake news, etc. are increasingly pervasive, we need to address the role of online technology in aiding or limiting such negative acts. In this regard, this article uses the canvas of a terror attack that was facilitated by online technology to bring to light pressing social and ethical issues in the use of new media. I draw upon 264 news articles focusing on the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks to piece together how the attack was orchestrated and focus on technology-enabled facets of the event. I stir discussion on the ethical aspects of technology with regard to online discrimination (known as online othering) and highlight business and other stakeholder responsibilities and challenges as technology continues to evolve and pervade our social lives. Keywords Social media · Technology · Terrorism · Online othering · Racism · Islam · Christchurch Mr Speaker, we will also look at the role social media played [in the terrorist attacks] and what steps we can take, including on the international stage, and in uni- son with our partners. There is no question that ideas and language of divi- sion and hate have existed for decades, but their form of distribution, the tools of organization, they are new. We cannot simply sit back and accept that these plat- forms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published. They are the publisher. Not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all proft no responsibility. This of course doesn’t take away the responsibility we too must show as a nation, to confront racism, violence and extremism. I don’t have all of the answers now, but we must collectively fnd them. And we must act. 1 - Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern (in the address to her Parliament on March 19, 2019 in the wake of Christchurch mosque attacks) This article shares one of goals that the New Zealand Prime Minister set out in the above excerpt, i.e., to examine the role of social media in violent acts such as terrorism and to understand what businesses could do to minimize the pos- sibility of such incidents. In this paper, I specifcally ask how do newer forms of media such as social media plat- forms facilitate discrimination, hate, and violent acts and, in light of this, how should they be administered? More broadly, what is the process of online othering that leads to violence? In this regard, what are the ethical responsibili- ties of businesses in a techno-capitalistic climate? And what is the role of other stakeholders in this matter? Indeed, as Ardern states, we do not have all the answers at the moment. However, this paper aims to start the conversation towards fnding those. * Ateeq Abdul Rauf ateeqar@gmail.com 1 Information Technology University, Lahore, Pakistan 1 1newsnow (2019) ‘Full statement: Jacinda Ardern addresses Parlia- ment on Christchurch terror attack’, URL (consulted 12 September), https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/full-statement-jacinda- ardern-addresses-parliament-christchurch-terror-attack.