Private Regulation of Speech
Governments around the world are increasingly turning to private internet platforms as de facto regulators of internet users’ speech. In the United States, newly enacted legislation has expanded internet intermediaries’ liability for users’ communications for the first time in two decades. In the European Union, the Commission has proposed making social media companies proactively monitor and remove user communications relating to terrorism. Pressure to combat violent extremism has already led to troubling errors – including platforms removing political speech, videos posted by human rights organizations, and users’ discussions of Islamic religious topics.
