The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics introduced by Phillippo Foot in 1967. The general form of the problem is this:

You see a runaway trolley moving five tied up (or otherwise incapacitated) people lying on the tracks. You are standing next to a lever, that controls a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track, and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, there is a single person lying on the side track. You have two options:

1. Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.
2.  Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the sidetrack where it will kill one person.

What is the more ethical option?

Most of you may say, option two is the most ethical option and the first time I read about it, that was my answer too.

In my Social Media Marketing course, we discussed an ethical case with Toyota. In a nutshell, Toyota knew that 0.009% of their cars had some manufacturing default that ultimately resulted in deaths. Instead of recalling all cars which would have resulted in billions of dollars, they decided that in the event the accidents occurred, they could stand to pay out millions.

The first thought in my head was, “That is so unethical!”

However, after listening to different opinions and my lecturer, we agreed that ethics is not black and white but fifty different shades of gray.

While it is fifty different shades of gray, when it comes to social media and blogging, ethics is really important. As a social media creator or blogger, you have a duty to your followers and readers to put all your cards on the table. By that I mean, if you were compensated to review a product or service then you should let them know that this will colour your opinion and true feelings about the product.

Now some of you reading this post may say to yourselves, “Advertisers don’t disclose whether a product is good or bad”.

Yeah, they really don’t.

The reason for this is they lack the one on one connection that a content creator or a blogger have with their community. Their audience and readers value and respect their opinions so when they find out that their mentor, their friend has betrayed their trust, the fallout from that can be disastrous.

Many influencers now have this issues and have to be working overtime to regain trust and to also maintain their credibility. In the UK, the government has tightened up the rules around creators declaring paid for content online. Over the past few years, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) cautioned hundreds of influencers and brands for breaking strict guidelines around paid for posts on Instagram.

The FTC took similar actions in the US to promote more transparency into the online space. Some brands like Unilever have put pressure on Instagram and Twitter to take ‘urgent action now to rebuild trust before it’s gone forever.’ This motivated the networks to take action purging fake followers using AI technology from their sites.

Let’s not use our platforms as a form of deception but as a means in supporting marketing strategies and campaigns. Social Media and Content platforms are just in their toddler stages, let’s not stifle it just yet and see where it can take us.