Heidelberger Salon Digital: Who is the Guardian of Free Speech?

In cooperation with Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia University.

The spread of misinformation and hate speech has led to calls for a more active role of social networks in curating content. Others fear censorship and arbitrariness. In this stormy debate, Meta decided to share the responsibility for the enforcement of its community guidelines on Facebook and Instagram by setting up the Oversight Board (OB), an independent body which can review decisions taken by Meta on the removal of posts and blocking of users.

At the same time, State courts in Europe intervene more and more in the content moderation process, inter alia with the German Bundesgerichtshof annulling parts of Facebook’s Terms and Conditions and the German Bundesverfassungsgericht as well as the Italian Corte Costituzionale ordering Meta to unblock users. US-American courts, on the other hand, have regularly rejected claims against social media companies aiming at the reinstatement of content or user accounts.

Oversight Board’s Co-Chair and former Inter-American Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Professor Catalina Botero Marino (Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia University), Professor Martin Eifert (Humboldt University Berlin), Professor Matthias Kettemann (University of Innsbruck / Hans Bredow Institute, Hamburg) and Erik Tuchtfeld (MPIL) discuss the relationship between State courts and emerging private dispute resolution mechanisms in the realm of content moderation, their effect on freedom of speech on the internet and new regulatory proposals in instruments such as “Europe’s Constitution for Internet Platforms”, the Digital Services Act.

The discussion is moderated by Alexandra Kemmerer (MPIL).