Author ORCID Identifier
Jonathon Penney: 0000-0001-9570-0146
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1-2024
Source Publication
Daedalus (2024) 153 (3): 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_02087
Abstract
Content moderation is typically viewed as an affront to free expression. When companies remove online abuse, they face accusations of censorship. Lost in the discussion is the fact that victims of intimate privacy violations and cyberstalking typically-and regrettably-withdraw from on- and offline activities. Online assaults chase targeted individuals offline; they silence victims. Content moderation can secure opportunities for people to speak. Legal and corporate prohibitions against intimate privacy violations and cyberstalking can help provide the reassurance that victims need to stay online. They can endow individuals with a sense of trust so they continue to use networked technologies to express themselves. Those prohibitions are consonant with First Amendment doctrine and free speech values. Combating online abuse isn't a zero-sum game with free speech as the loser. Rather, it can free us to speak by changing the culture that rewards abuse and encourages self-censorship.
Repository Citation
Citron, Danielle Keats and Penney, Jonathon W., "Empowering Speech by Moderating It" (2024). Articles & Book Chapters. 3174.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/3174
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
"This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is non-commercial and the original work is properly cited. For a full description of the license, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0." - Publisher.