It is an accident of history that so many tech and social media companies are based in the United States. For example, Facebook has several times more users than there are citizens of any nation in the world. Thus, when a company like Facebook sets rules for content moderation of things like hate speech and pornography, it has truly global implications. David Kaye, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, joins the show to argue that supranational tech companies should adopt supranational standards for content moderation, namely the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with hopes that doing so will constrain governments from limiting basic speech rights.

What is the interaction between surveillance and free speech? What is the digital access industry & what role do they play? Is there a tolerable censorship? What is the Google Spain, “right to be forgotten” case? How do we think of democratization of social media platforms? What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Further Reading:

Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet, written by David Kaye

Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Press Release from the United Nations

UN Expert: Content moderation should not trample free speech, written by David Kaye

Related Content:

Free Speech Online: Unfriended, Free Thoughts Podcast

Toward an Uncensored Internet, written by Sonya Mann

The Brazilian People Reject Censorship, written by Mauricio F. Bento

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