A New Constitution for Content Moderation
Social media platforms should look to human rights law to govern speech on the internet
Today, a few private companies, driven to expand shareholder value, control social media. And yet the rules of speech for public space, in theory, should be made by relevant political communities, not private companies that lack democratic accountability and oversight. If left alone, the companies will gain ever greater power over expression in the public sphere.
Governments see that corporate power and are jealous of it, as they should be. French President Emmanuel Macron said directly when he appeared before the UN’s Internet Governance Forum in November 2018 in Paris: “I deeply believe that it is necessary to regulate.” Macron is not alone. Other democratic governments are also making explicit demands that social media companies regulate their platforms in accordance with national laws or assertions of public security.
Authoritarian governments are taking cues from the loose regulatory talk among democracies. They are doing what they have long wanted to do — taking control of online expressive space from corporations and punishing individuals for criticism and reporting. Most authoritarian regimes will do what they want to restrain online speech, but there is a serious risk…
