Blog 1: Freedom of Speech in Social Media

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For over a decade, social media platforms have been transforming our society in a way that nowadays it is difficult to imagine life without them. Social media platforms became powerful communication tools for an enormous forum without frontiers where, in an open environment, we not only can connect with family and friends, but also with groups of diverse interests to express and share information, our opinions, beliefs, emotions, and causes to mention some. The powerful impact of social media platforms is still shaping many aspects of life, culture, education, and politics. And how this would not happen as Facebook has 2.6 billion active users, and Twitter with its 330 million active users is now the preferred platform for domestic and international politics?

Obviously, these social platforms have certain rules in order to maintain people's interaction and participation in public chats as safe and sound as possible. Countless users from the general community, public figures, and some elected officials have reacted with hostility while facing their posts flagged or removed, or their accounts suspended if Facebook or Twitter consider the content of those posts show hate speech or safety concerns such as violence, harassment, abuse, self-harm, terrorism, sensitive media, or illegal activities. Most users rarely find themselves in that situation. Most users align to those rules out of common sense and respect for one another and do not deem that their freedom of speech is restricted. However, a number of users consider that the First Amendment right of freedom of speech is violated when private companies like Facebook or Twitter regulate their posts on their platforms. Anyway, who would like to browse a newsfeed full of such content?

It is important to remember that the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech only from government actors, which means that privately owned social media sites can filter posts and even remove a person from their platform if they deem there is a reason to do it. As private corporations made out of people, Facebook and Twitter are treated like a person in the eyes of the law, and this means that these corporations have rights protected by the First Amendment and for this reason the government cannot regulate social media, and neither elected officials (government actors) who use their social media accounts as public forums to engage with millions of followers cannot block people who express criticism or opposite points of view. One thing I have for sure is that if we allow the government to regulate social media then our confidence to freely post on social media would be decreased.

Image source: https://plainsailing.online/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/social-media-2690966_1280-e1516733851115.jpg

Sources:
  • https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/trump-twitter-court-ruling-284632
  • https://pacificlegal.org/officials-who-block-people-on-social-media-violate-the-first-amendment/
  • https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/why-government-should-not-regulate-content-moderation-social-media
  • https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules
  • https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/

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