Abstract
As liberal democracies grapple with the evolution of online political
extremism, in addition to governments, social media and internet infrastructure
companies have found themselves making more and more decisions about who gets to use their platforms, and what people say online. This raises the question that this paper explores, who should regulate extremist content online? In doing so the first part of the paper examines the evolution of the increasing role that social media and internet infrastructure companies have come to play in the regulating extremist content online, and the ethical challenges this presents. The second part of the paper explores three ethical challenges: i) the moral legitimacy of private actors, ii) the concentration of power in the hands of a few actors and iii) the lack of separation of powers in the content regulation process by private actors.
extremism, in addition to governments, social media and internet infrastructure
companies have found themselves making more and more decisions about who gets to use their platforms, and what people say online. This raises the question that this paper explores, who should regulate extremist content online? In doing so the first part of the paper examines the evolution of the increasing role that social media and internet infrastructure companies have come to play in the regulating extremist content online, and the ethical challenges this presents. The second part of the paper explores three ethical challenges: i) the moral legitimacy of private actors, ii) the concentration of power in the hands of a few actors and iii) the lack of separation of powers in the content regulation process by private actors.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Counter-Terrorism, Ethics and Technology: |
| Subtitle of host publication | Emerging Challenges at the Frontiers of Counter-Terrorism |
| Editors | Adam Henschke, Alastair Reed, Scott Robbins, Seumas Miller |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Pages | 175-198 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-030-90221-6 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-030-90220-9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Dec 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
