Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet

Regulation of free speech is very tricky. Especially online, where not governments but big American corporations are in charge. Who gets to decide what online content is acceptable? Do the same rules apply everywhere?

Kaye was the “UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression”. While the general attention is on all the harm unregulated social media posts have caused in the last decade (hate speech, radicalization, misinformation) Kaye rightfully reminds us that too much regulation can be a slippery slope. Especially if executed by governments that are currently in the grey-zone between authoritarian and democratic governments.

He argues that human rights law should be the basis for content moderation norms, he wants more transparency from the social media companies on their algorithms and decisions, and advocates the need for independent local public oversight institutions that are neither part of the social companies nor the governments.