Wednesday, April 3 at 2:00 pm
Constitutional Free Speech Principles Can Save Social Media Companies from Themselves
How should the world’s largest social media companies respond to a pernicious online climate, including hate speech and false content posted by users? For some, the answer is clear: take the fake and offensive content down. But for others, censorship – even by a private company – is dangerous in a time when digital platforms have become the new public square and many Americans cite Facebook and Twitter as their primary news sources. Rather than embracing European hate speech laws or developing platform-specific community standards that are sometimes seen as partisan, they argue, social media companies should voluntarily adopt the First Amendment and block content only if it violates American law. Should First Amendment doctrine govern free speech online? Or are new, more internationally focused speech policies better equipped to handle the modern challenges of regulating content and speech in the digital era?
The Debaters:
David French
Senior Writer, National Review
David French is a senior writer for the National Review, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, an attorney, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his next book, “The Great American Divorce,” will be published this year. He was previously the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Corynne McSherry
Legal Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Corynne McSherry is the legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in intellectual property, open access, and free speech issues. Her policy work includes leading EFF’s effort to fix copyright (including the successful effort to shut down the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA), promote net neutrality, and promote best practices for online expression. McSherry comments regularly on digital rights issues and has been quoted in a variety of outlets, including NPR, CBS News, Fox News, the New York Times, Billboard, the Wall Street Journal, and Rolling Stone. Prior to joining EFF, McSherry was a civil litigator at the law firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP.
Nathaniel Persily
Professor, Stanford Law
Nate Persily is a professor at Stanford Law School and the director of the Stanford Project on Democracy and the Internet. His scholarship and legal practice focus on American election law, which addresses issues such as voting rights, political parties, campaign finance, redistricting, and election administration. Persily’s current work, for which he has been honored as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, examines the impact of changing technology on political communication, campaigns, and election administration.
Marietje Schaake
Dutch Politician & Member, European Parliament
Marietje Schaake is a Dutch politician and has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since 2009. She is a member of D66, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe political group. She is the founder of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Digital Agenda for Europe. Furthermore, she is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and an adviser to the Center for Humane Technology. Schaake was featured by Politico as one of the 28 most influential Europeans in the class of 2017.
To listen to the audio of “Constitutional Free Speech Principles Can Save Social Media Companies from Themselves” on Intelligence Squared online, please click HERE.