Concerned about social media companies and free speech? The debate over content moderation is much bigger than Alex Jones & Infowars.
Thread. washingtonpost.com/opinions/bewar…
Thread. washingtonpost.com/opinions/bewar…
We should remember the thousands of other decisions made by online giants including Apple, Facebook, Google, YouTube, Spotify, and more that have silenced other voices. /2
Silenced voices include Moroccan atheists, women discussing online harassment, activists reposting racist messages they received, drag performers, indigenous women, breast-feeding mothers, and dissidents around the world and across the U.S. /3
We should be extremely careful before rushing to embrace an Internet that is moderated by a few private companies by default. Once systems like content moderation become the norm, those in power inevitably exploit them. /4 eff.org/deeplinks/2018…
Time and time again, platforms have capitulated to censorship demands from authoritarian regimes, and powerful actors have manipulated flagging procedures to effectively censor their political opponents. /5
Company executives regularly reshape their rules in response to governmental and other pressures, and they do so without significant input from the public. /6
If content moderation is here to stay, existing human-rights standards provide a framework for policies that companies could and should voluntarily implement to protect their users. /7 eff.org/deeplinks/2018…
At @EFF we worked with academics, @CenDemTech, @ACLU_NorCal, and @NewAmerica to develop a set of process principles emphasizing transparency, notice, and appeal. /8 newamericadotorg.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Sant…
The public momentum for private companies to do something to more actively moderate content is worrisome. Transparency in their content-moderation decisions is essential. We must urge that they apply their rules consistently and provide clear, accessible avenues for appeal. /9
Given the lack of competition, the power that these platforms have over the online public sphere should worry all of us, no matter whether we agree or disagree with a given content decision. /10 eff.org/deeplinks/2018…
