Social Media Censorship of Political Speech

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Kehoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Media Censorship

Governing Fake News: The Regulation of Social Media and the Right to Freedom of Expression in the Era of Emergency

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Donato VESE
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Media Censorship

Governments around the world are strictly regulating information on social media in the interests of addressing fake news. There is, however, a risk that the uncontrolled spread of information could increase the adverse effects of the COVID-19 health emergency through the influence of false and misleading news. Yet governments may well use health emergency regulation as a pretext for implementing draconian restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, as well as increasing social media censorship (ie chilling effects). This article seeks to challenge the stringent legislative and administrative measures governments have recently put in place in order to analyse their negative implications for the right to freedom of expression and to suggest different regulatory approaches in the context of public law. These controversial government policies are discussed in order to clarify why freedom of expression cannot be allowed to be jeopardised in the process of trying to manage fake news. Firstly, an analysis of the legal definition of fake news in academia is presented in order to establish the essential characteristics of the phenomenon (Section II). Secondly, the legislative and administrative measures implemented by governments at both international (Section III) and European Union (EU) levels (Section IV) are assessed, showing how they may undermine a core human right by curtailing freedom of expression. Then, starting from the premise of social media as a “watchdog” of democracy and moving on to the contention that fake news is a phenomenon of “mature” democracy, the article argues that public law already protects freedom of expression and ensures its effectiveness at the international and EU levels through some fundamental rules (Section V). There follows a discussion of the key regulatory approaches, and, as alternatives to government intervention, self-regulation and especially empowering users are proposed as strategies to effectively manage fake news by mitigating the risks of undue interference by regulators in the right to freedom of expression (Section VI). The article concludes by offering some remarks on the proposed solution and in particular by recommending the implementation of reliability ratings on social media platforms (Section VII).

Response to ‘Word choice as political speech’: Hydraulic fracturing is a partisan issue

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-126
Author(s):  
Jill E. Hopke ◽  
Molly Simis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Opt Out

In 2015, Hopke & Simis published an analysis of social media discourse around hydraulic fracturing. Grubert (2016) offered a commentary on the research, highlighting the politicization of terminology used in the discourse on this topic. The present article is a response to Grubert (2016)’s commentary, in which we elaborate on the distinctions between terminology used in social media discourse around hydraulic fracturing (namely, ‘frack,’ ‘fracking,’ ‘frac,’ and ‘fracing’). Additionally preliminary analysis supports the claim that industry-preferred terminology is severely limited in its reach. When industry actors opt-out of the discourse, the conversation followed by the majority of lay audiences is dominated by activists. exacerbating the political schism on the issue.

Ship disaster will spur public safety rethink in China

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Yangtze River ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Publicity ◽  
Media Censorship

Subject The Eastern Star cruise ship disaster. Significance The rescue and recovery operation for the capsized Eastern Star river cruise ship finished on June 14. The Eastern Star, an aging economy-class tourist vessel of shallow draft, carrying 454 passengers, was struck by a squall as it took a curve in the Yangtze river in Hubei province on June 1. The boat capsized, trapping passengers and crew below water. Only 12 people survived. Despite a media shut-down, recriminations are surfacing about responsibility for and handling of the disaster. Impacts Regulations will be stepped up, with policing largely delegated to the insurance industry rather than civil society. The incident stress-tested a reinforced social media censorship system, which overall performed well. The authorities are rightly concerned about negative publicity, but this sort of incident poses negligible threat to social order.

Social media and the visibility of horrific violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-629
Author(s):  
Constance Duncombe
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
News Media ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Short Video ◽  
Audience Responses ◽  
Social Media Communication ◽  
Violent Images ◽  
Media Censorship

Abstract Images are central to social media communication. Billions of images are shared across different social media platforms every day: photos, cartoons, GIFs and short video clips are exchanged by users, facilitating or framing discourse on participatory sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Many of these images depict events of extreme violence, which circulate uninhibited by the conventional constraints associated with traditional news media censorship. A question arises here as to how such images mobilize public and policy-making responses to atrocities. This article examines the political dynamics of violent social media images. I argue that the particular qualities of social media can play an important role in how the digital visibility of horrific violence influences policy-making as a response to such atrocities. There is an important connection between the properties of social media platforms that allow user images to reach a global audience in real time and the emotional responses that this level of circulation generates. In turn, the pressure created by events made globally visible through the circulation of violent images and the audience responses to those images puts governments in a position where they are forced to act, which has significant implications for policy-making.

On media censorship, freedom of expression and the risks of journalism in Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 666-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fidel González-Quiñones ◽  
Juan D Machin-Mastromatteo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The State ◽  
Corporate Groups ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Mass Media ◽  
Media Censorship

We present a classification of the types of censorship of media to frame the various issues that journalism and freedom of expression face in Mexico, which mainly include the role of the State in preventing or enforcing censorship, the monopoly of a few corporate groups that control most of the mass media and dictate fixed editorial lines throughout all of them, the effect of violence on journalism and the issues that are emerging around the freedom of expression in social media.

scholarly journals Freedom of Expression, Social Media Censorship, and Property Rights

Tripodos ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Pavel Slutskiy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Public Access ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Fundamental Freedoms ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Censorship

Sustainable Development Goal 16 stresses the importance of access to information. It is clearly emphasised in target 16.10 —“to ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements”. With social media becoming the default communication platforms, the questions of the extent to which their content moderating models are conducive to the implementation of public access to information and fundamental freedoms are becoming increasingly important. Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr as well as Twitter and other social media platforms have been recently criticised for censorship of user-generated content. This article looks at the controversy surrounding these policies from the property rights perspective —focusing on the role which property rights play in securing the freedom of expression. By recognising the owners’ right to control the legitimately owned property, I conclude that social media are not engaged in “censorship” —they merely exercise property rights. There is a difference between a private platform refusing to carry someone’s ideas on their property and a government prohibiting from speaking on a legitimately owned property. Keywords: SDG 16.10, freedom of expression, censorship, social media, property rights.

Fake News and Social Media Censorship

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Adebowale Jeremy Adetayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Ripple Effect ◽  
Fake News ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Censorship

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a surge of fake news on social media. This dilemma has caused a ripple effect in society with increasing censorship on social media, which threatens the freedom of expression. The populace cannot effectively progress until they understand the threat posed by fake news and censorship. To protect our fundamental rights of expression, society must learn from librarians. The chapter explores the role of librarians in mitigating fake news. The chapter also identifies possible societal consequences of fake news. The chapter concludes that librarians should inoculate the public to pre-empt them from accepting fake news.

scholarly journals Making up Political People: How Social Media Create the Ideals, Definitions, and Probabilities of Political Speech

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Ananny
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Studies ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Communication Media ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Social Media Platforms

An examination of the principles and techniques that social media platforms use to define and regulate political speech. Uses concepts from Communication, Media Studies, and Science and Technology Studies to investigate how platforms define ideals of citizenship, the politics of the categories they use to define speech, and the role that algorithms and probability play in governing platform speech.

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