Speech
On today’s internet, the boundaries of acceptable speech are set by a few massive platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and a handful of others. If those companies find something unacceptable, it can’t travel far — a restriction that’s had a massive impact for everyone from copyright violators to sex workers. At the same time, vile content that doesn’t violate platform rules can find shockingly broad audiences, leading to a chilling rise in white nationalism and violent misogyny online. After years of outcry, platforms have grown more willing to ban the worst actors online, but each ban comes with a new political fight, and companies are slow to respond in the best of circumstances. As gleeful disinformation figures like Alex Jones gain power — and the sheer scale of these platforms begins to overwhelm moderation efforts — the problems have only gotten uglier and harder to ignore. At the same time, the hard questions of moderation are only getting harder.
‘We need politics. We need public policy. We need social movements’
A labyrinth of Facebook groups and right-wing media
Turning the ‘Great Resignation’ into good business
Influencer first, conservative second
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, helps us answer the question
But they stand to gain a real chance at change
A massive new document release shows chaos and confusion inside the world’s most powerful social network
Leaked documents reveal a huge, opaque system