Items tagged "Free Speech"
Finding the Limits of Free Speech Online
January 12, 2021 Content Moderation , Disinformation , Facebook , First Amendment , Free Expression , Free Speech , Hate Speech , misinformation , Platform Regulation , Speech Online , TwitterLast week, President Trump used social media to encourage his supporters to storm the Capitol to attempt to maintain his power. In the wake of this violent insurrection against the certification of our election, the President and some of his supporters are claiming that the First Amendment rights of the President have been violated because […]
Read MoreContent Moderation Is Not Synonymous With Censorship
November 16, 2020 Big Tech , Congress , Content Moderation , Free Speech , Freedom of Expression , misinformation , Platform Competition , Platform Regulation , Section 230Tomorrow, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss censorship, the suppression of news articles, and the companies’ handling of the 2020 presidential election. Last time Dorsey and Zuckerberg were brought in to the Senate to testify, the hearing turned into an opportunity for some […]
Read MoreVideo: Free Expression Forum – How Section 230 Uplifts Marginalized Voices
September 4, 2020 Content Moderation , Free Expression , Free Expression Forum , Free Speech , Freedom of Expression , marginalized communities , Section 230 , Webinar SeriesThe Free Expression Forum at Public Knowledge is an ongoing series of dialogues about the importance of free expression online to artists, entrepreneurs, and content creators. It highlights how policy decisions impact this important value and how the community of diverse online voices must stand up to preserve it as technology develops. This first forum […]
Read MoreJustice Department, Sen. Hawley Proposals Could Limit Efforts to Fight Online Harms
June 17, 2020 digital platforms , DOJ , Free Speech , Section 230 , social mediaToday, reports surfaced that the Department of Justice and Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) have separate proposals to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that shields digital platforms from liability for user content they carry, while also allowing platforms to take down content they find objectionable. While we await specific legislative language, some reported details are troubling.
Read MorePublic Knowledge Rejects White House Executive Order Targeting Free Speech on Social Media Platforms
May 28, 2020 digital platforms , due process , FCC , Free Speech , FTC , Section 230Today, President Trump will reportedly sign an Executive Order that would direct the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to regulate speech on social media platforms. Based on reporting, the Executive Order calls for the FCC to develop rules detailing how and when the law shields social media companies when they remove or moderate content on their platforms. Public Knowledge finds this Administration’s potential interference with free speech and abandonment of agency independence alarming, and reminds President Trump that neither the FCC nor the FTC have any authority to regulate social media.
Read MorePublic Knowledge Warns New Copyright Office Study Risks Free Speech, Online Marketplace
May 22, 2020 Copyright Office , Copyright Reform , Free Expression , Free Speech , Report , Safe Harbor , Section 512Yesterday, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the “safe harbor” provisions contained in Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The report recommends “rebalancing” the “safe harbor” protection — jeopardizing one of the most important safeguards for the Open Internet without taking due account of ways the current system has been abused.
Read MorePublic Knowledge Responds to White House Proposal to Require FTC, FCC to Monitor Speech on Social Media
August 9, 2019 digital platforms , FCC , Free Speech , FTC , Section 230Today, reports surfaced that the Trump Administration is drafting an Executive Order that would require the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission to monitor speech on social media platforms. Reports indicate that the draft order calls for the FCC to develop new regulations detailing how and when the law shields social media companies when they remove content from their platforms. Public Knowledge finds this Administration’s potential abandonment of free speech and agency independence alarming.
Read MoreApp Store Control Is Less Important Than Human Rights, Actually
October 11, 2019 Apple , Free Expression , Free Speech , Global , Human Rights , Privacy , securityI have written about app stores at length before but it is worth reiterating a few points given the recent news about Apple removing access to the Hkmap.live app (which helps people track police activity) and Google removing access to The Revolution of Our Times (a protest game). First, Apple’s (and Google’s) explanations don’t pass […]
Read MorePackingham and the Public Forum Doctrine: Implications for Copyright
June 22, 2017 Copyright Reform , DMCA , Free Speech , Notice and Takedown , Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court’s recent decision in Packingham v. North Carolina struck down, as unconstitutional under the First Amendment, a state law making it a felony for registered sex offenders to access social media websites. The decision has wide-ranging potential implications for technology law, especially on matters of rights to access the internet, which are particularly important for marginalized and disenfranchised voices in our society. Below, Harold Feld reviews the Packingham decision and explores its implications for one area of law: the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s provisions regarding termination of Internet access for accused copyright infringers. This post was originally posted on Harold’s personal blog, “Tales of the Sausage Factory,” on wetmachine.com.
Read MoreDangerous Corporate First Amendment Overreach: Three Information Trends and a Data Application
May 25, 2016 Free Speech , Freedom of Expression , Internet of Things , Privacy , securityAn appeal playing out in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over mobile phone labeling exposes a phenomenon of great import to the future of technology: corporate use of the First Amendment to ax regulation. The stakes are seemingly rather small in the case of CTIA v. City of Berkeley. It involves a humble municipal ordinance requiring cell phone retailers to disclose the same information about permissible levels of radiofrequency (RF) radiation that the Federal Communications Commission already requires mobile phone manufacturers to reveal in their manuals.
Read More