Market Imperatives and the Public Sphere: Constitutional issues concerning the regulation of social media
Social media is a central part of the public sphere and as such of central importance for democracy. In its current form social media is arguably in part responsible for democratic backsliding. The question is how social media should be regulated so that its deliberative democratic potential is enhanced and its dystopian tendencies are held in check. The talk analysis competing approaches that seek to achieve this and analyzes the legal frameworks governing these choices. It will argue that regimes allowing corporations great deal of discretion in moderating content endangers free speech of users. On the other hand regulatory approaches that are content neutral and not viewpoint discriminatory are more attractive, notwithstanding the resistance of social media companies to them.
Mattias Kumm is Research Professor "Global Constitutionalism" at the WZB and Professor "Rule of Law in the Age of Globalization” at Humboldt University Berlin.
Please note that this event takes place in English only with no translation.
The event is part of the WZB Talks series.
-----
The WZB will record this event, which is carried out in person and via Zoom. The audio recording will be separated from the video recording and published on the WZB website (https://www.wzb.eu/de/node/66702) in order to present the talk to an interested public. The video recordings are deleted after editing and are not passed on to third parties. If you participate in the event with spoken contributions, this information as well as the name you provided will be published. If you want to participate in the discussion without your contributions being published, you can use the chat function to submit questions.
Please note that information on the Internet is accessible worldwide, can be found with search engines and linked to other information. Recordings that can be accessed via the Internet can be copied and distributed at any time.
We require your consent to record the event and to publish the audio recording. You will be asked by Zoom whether you agree to the recording. Your consent is voluntary, without consent, however, you can not participate in this event. You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future, e.g. at wzb [at] wzb.eu. In this case, the recordings will be deleted from the pages operated by us or edited in a form that ensures that your contributions are removed. The data handling up to that point remains lawful. Further information on data security, your rights and the contact details of our Data Protection Commissioner can be found here.