Your Post has been Removed: Tech Giants and Freedom of Speech

by Frederik Stjernfelt, Anne Mette Lauritzen

This open access monograph argues established democratic norms for freedom of expression should be implemented on the internet. Moderating policies of tech companies as Facebook, Twitter and Google have resulted in posts being removed on an industrial scale. While this moderation is often encouraged by governments - on the pretext that terrorism, bullying, pornography, “hate speech” and “fake news” will slowly disappear from the internet - it enables tech companies to censure our society. It is the social media companies who define what is blacklisted in their community standards. And given the dominance of social media in our information society, we run the risk of outsourcing the definition of our principles for discussion in the public domain to private companies. Instead of leaving it to social media companies only to take action, the authors argue democratic institutions should take an active role in moderating criminal content on the internet. To make this possible, tech companies should be analyzed whether they are approaching a monopoly. Antitrust legislation should be applied to bring those monopolies within democratic governmental oversight.

Despite being in different stages in their lives, Anne Mette is in the startup phase of her research career, while Frederik is one of the most prolific philosophers in Denmark, the authors found each other in their concern about Free Speech on the internet.

The book was originally published in Danish as Dit opslag er blevet fjernet - techgiganter & ytringsfrihed.

 

Praise for 'Your Post has been Removed'

 "From my perspective both as a politician and as private book collector, this is the most important non-fiction book of the 21st Century. It should be disseminated to all European citizens. The learnings of this book and the use we make of them today are crucial for every man, woman and child on earth. Now and in the future.” 

Jens Rohde, member of the European Parliament for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

“This timely book compellingly presents an impressive array of information and analysis about the urgent threats the tech giants pose to the robust freedom of speech and access to information that are essential for individual liberty and democratic self-government.   It constructively explores potential strategies for restoring individual control over information flows to and about us.  Policymakers worldwide should take heed!”

Nadine Strossen, Professor, New York Law School. Author,   Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship

Genres: Nonfiction

353 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2019

Reviews

[Willow Rankin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well researched review of tech giants (Facebook, Twitter and Google are most commonly cited here), and there policies on freedom of expression, freedom of speech and its implementation in a practical sense on social media.

This book is written in chronological order, from the inception of social media as we know it, right through to early 2020. Each chapter centres around a central theme, and includes a list of further reading with a list of articles, books and internet references.

I found this book lacking however, for example it has been a very long argument even before the information age on what is freedom of speech and what is the definition of hate speech. Its something Governments, philosophers and academics have wrestled with for a long time.

Whilst fake news and the very clear ignorant thinking is wrong, how is it that political debate becomes censored? And when does political discourse cross and become hate speech and misinformation.

Further, what I found wasn't further developed is the internet is global, and one countries and one peoples perception of free speech may be entirely different to another country. China for example has very different laws to the US. I feel this impact of the these tech giants trying to work globally is one of the many failings.

I think what also wasn't included, is that a lot of these tech giants started out when the CEOs and other senior managers were teenagers and early twenties exploring notions of communication through computers. There concept of "Do No Evil" (the google tagline) seems perfectly well meaning when the company first started, but in the age of keeping everyone together with the varying degrees of opinions and agendas.

Considering Governments routinely come under the same problems, I can't imagine tech companies being able to effectively police freedom of speech - that very idea being an almost contradiction in itself.

[Deepta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earned a lot of valuable insight into Intellectual Property Law and Tech Giants. The segment I enjoyed the most was Chapter 14- The First Digital Losers. It helped me gain perspective on the issue of authors and artists who hold the right to have their works monitored, while also ensuring that users' rights to freedom of speech and expression weren't compromised. I hadn't even considered most of these perspectives prior to reading this book.

I loved all the arguments and comments made on Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles and I thought they were well explained as well. Maybe better examples could have been used.

Perhaps a bit more nuance in their arguments, and diligence while citing authorities, would have made the book better for me personally.

“The biggest crime against freedom of expression would be to remove the artists’ income—and thus their ability to create new art.” - Jean-Michel Jarre.

[Kevin Stumpf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and scary read. It is hard to imagine how unprepared we were for the digital social media age and how little our government or citizens actually care about how powerful they have become.

Oh for simpler times when we actually had to GO OUTSIDE, write letters, or TALK TO PEOPLE. Those were the days.