What is Politics' Role in the Internet Censorship Debate?

An overview of “How social media ‘censorship’ became a front line in the culture war” by Will Oremus from The Washington Post.

When James Madison and his fellow members of the Philadelphia Convention first drafted the Constitution’s first amendment regarding personal rights and the freedom of speech, they definitely did not anticipate the future age of social media, digitization of speech, and extreme dumping of content. However, as the 21st century progresses and political parties divide to irreversible bounds, all while social media becomes more widespread, it is apparent that the idea of freedom of speech is debated throughout society. In the article, “How social media ‘censorship’ became a front line in the culture war”, Will Oremus discusses the lengths that left and right-wing politicians, Big Tech corporations, and average users go to, to establish safety and security while preserving the tenets supporting American democracy.

Oremus starts off the article with an establishment of the current political context of content censorship. He describes the situation of many publicly sharing online about the potential “man-made” and “leaked from a lab” Coronavirus. While this misinformation was attempted to be controlled by Facebook, the nature of social media and its networking allowed the content to be spread at an incomprehensible speed. Oremus paints a picture of the divide between the left and the right, with the left “[crying] for content moderation to tamp down disinformation, racism, and misogyny” while the right “demands the right to free speech.”

The article then takes a different turn, starting a chronological order of events regarding the origination of content censorship and its role in the legislature. Oremus introduces a bill, called Section 230, which highlights the current rules of online platforms today. It allows the platforms to “host, distribute and moderate content posted by users without being held liable when they [post] something illegal.” Many politicians believed that this bill, which catalyzed an environment of self-moderation of content, would eventually lead to a “cleaner, safer internet without [the] need for government censorship”. At first, Oremus describes how this would have worked if the platforms and sites had remained in their beginning developmental stages, with small bands of users. Still, it is apparent that it has not worked for sites drawing in global users of unfathomable amounts. Throughout the article, the attempts of corporations to keep content under control are emphasized, with descriptions of “huge teams of workers spending their days making [judgment] calls” and companies “spending heavily on human content moderators.” Their efforts attempt to combat a multitude of events such as 2006’s Youtube video of “deposed” Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s hanging, 2014’s GamerGate where male gamers attacked women online, and 2016’s scandal of alleged suppression of stories from right-leaning news outlets. Still, arguments continue on whether freedom of speech is valid in these situations or if safety and censorship are needed. In 2019, Republicans called for fundamental changes to be made to Section 230 where legal protection would only be granted to politically neutral platforms and companies.

Throughout the years, debates between the Right and Left regarding content censorship have stymied our use of the internet today. What is deemed unsafe? Can users share whatever they would like because of freedom of speech? Should platforms be responsible for stopping the spread of misinformation? Oremus sets up the article with quotes from politicians and arguments for both political and social sides in an impartial way for the reader to be well-versed on both sides of the story and to make their own decision. While this conversation will ultimately continue into further generations as social media gets more connected and more commonly used, companies will hopefully understand the boundary between user safety, ethics, and the foundations of our society.

Oremus, Will. “How Social Media 'Censorship' Became a Front Line in the Culture War.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Oct. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/09/social-media-content-moderation/.

Cover image by Kasia Bojanowska on Dribbble.