When the First Amendment meets the Digital Services Act
It is idealistic to believe that the self-regulation model can work when it comes to massive social media companies. These are not “town squares.” They are commercial entities, driven by commercial incentives. They will adapt or comply with regulations based on a business calculus, not a principled one. Self-regulation fails when its aims conflict with global profit. Europe and most of the world understands this, and even within the U.S., there is a push to do more.
Repeal PECA
Almost the entirety of the 2025 Act is unconstitutional. Consider its two chief prohibitions: (i) creating a criminal offence for ‘fake’ and ‘false’ information (non-bailable); and (ii) prohibiting content that casts ‘aspersions’ against members of the state. These aim to prohibit what Article 19 (free speech) and 19A (free information) of our constitution expressly protect: criticism of state institutions.
Algorithms for Hate
Never before have terrorists had such an easy way to share their manifestos. The original video of the Christchurch terror spree was taken down within an hour of it being uploaded, but copies of it multiplied faster than Facebook could take them down. A hydra of violent content swept through different social media platforms as the world grappled with the new reality of viral terrorism. To get an idea of the scale of it all, consider this: Facebook announced that it had removed 1.5 million copies of the video. While at one point, a copy of the video was being posted on YouTube every second.