Upholding digital rights and media plurality: does self-regulation by social media platforms contravene freedom of expression?
Smartt, Ursula (2021) Upholding digital rights and media plurality: does self-regulation by social media platforms contravene freedom of expression? In: Digital Lounge Series University of Greenwich, 13 October 2021, University of Greenwich Law School. (Submitted)
Abstract
The paper questions whether the big tech companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, are breaching freedom of expression by regulating and blocking content on their platforms and by delinking and delisting people like Donald Trump or Tommy Robinson? Does this amount to self-regulatory censorship of the big US tech companies by enforcing their own rules and ‘by laws’ on their users, or are they right to ban the promotion of self-harm, suicide, bullying and incitement to racial hatred? The new Facebook Oversight Board will be scrutinised with its appointment of twenty global oversight panel members and algorithmic fact checkers. The meaning of media plurality will be explored as well as the re-examination of fake news and disinformation on social media platforms. There will be an examination of whether ISPs and operators of websites are publishers – looking first at the meaning in US law, followed by UK common law examples. Steps taken by the EU Commission as well as the UK Government, following the Online Harms White Paper (2019), will end the discussion. We will discuss whether the big tech companies should be able to self-regulate content on their platforms or whether the time has come for legislation by governments?
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