Restricting digital sites of dissent: commercial social media and free expression.

The widespread use of commercial social media platforms by protesters and activists has enhanced protest mobilisation and reporting but it has placed social media providers in the intermediary role as facilitators of dissent and has thereby created new challenges. Companies like Google and Facebook...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical Discourse Studies Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 325 - 341
Main Author: Hintz, Arne
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jun2016
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Restricting digital sites of dissent: commercial social media and free expression.
      aug:
        au: Hintz, Arne
        affil: Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, UK
      su:
        Digital media
        Social media
        Freedom of expression
        Infrastructure (Economics)
        Google Inc.
      sug:
        subj:
          Digital media
          Social media
          Freedom of expression
          Infrastructure (Economics)
          Google Inc.
      keyword:
        censorship
        digital rights
        freedom of expression
        protest
        surveillance
      ab: The widespread use of commercial social media platforms by protesters and activists has enhanced protest mobilisation and reporting but it has placed social media providers in the intermediary role as facilitators of dissent and has thereby created new challenges. Companies like Google and Facebook are increasingly restricting content that is published on or distributed through their platforms; they have been subject to obstruction by governments; and their services have been at the core of large-scale data collection and surveillance. This article analyses and categorises forms of infrastructure-based restrictions on free expression and dissent. It shows how private intermediaries have been incorporated into state-led content policies; how they set their own standards for legitimate online communication and intervene accordingly; and how state-based actions and commercial self-regulation intersect in the specific area of online surveillance. Based on a broad review of cases, it situates the role of social media in the wider trend of the privatisation of communications policy and the complex interplay between state-based regulation and commercial rule-making.
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    language: English
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