Freedom of Speech and Social Media

Freedom of speech is a right given to all Americans at birth, and this is guaranteed by the First Amendment. But many do not understand that this is slowly being taken away as social media becomes more governmental over what we post. This idea of something everybody uses daily, being under the radar when it comes down to somewhat illegal activity shows that many do not care what happens on these sites. This causes social media to become as big as they want and do whatever they want in terms of being a figure it does not make them to be.

Many who argue these points are swallowed up by hate from others who think the spread of ideas on social media should be looked after more efficiently. These sites constantly take down opinions they find hateful or wrong under the watchful eyes of these so-called non-biased admins. On the side of those who have these rights taken, many do not notice the hardships, comedians see nowadays. Articles have been on this controversial topic, many reporters have talked with founders of social media on why and how these things are happening and why censoring happens to certain topics.

The reporters who sought out founders and the answers they were looking for found a lot to be discovered. Graham Daseler the author of “The Internet’s Web of Lies”, which has talked about many of these ideas starting with the “accidental” censorship of posts made on these sites. In this article, Daseler constantly refers back to the idea that social media is getting to a point where they can take off things they do not believe in. It is also stated that these platforms that nearly everybody uses do not have the right to take away what we say based on what they dislike. One such statement says that “They’re more like public utilities than private corporations”, this tells us that social media has no right to do what they are doing with our opinions and beliefs. Another quote given by Daseler is that what social media is doing is not comforting but “Neither is a recent New York Times report detailing Facebook’s censorship practices around the world. Working off of a massive, Byzantine rulebook, moderators, many of whom are not fluent in the languages of the regions they are monitoring, have just seconds to determine whether a post (a picture, a video, a news story) is fit for the eyes of Facebook users.” for us to hear about this shows that censorship is coincidental most of the time. Ideas and beliefs are a huge part of sharing on social media, but a major concern for many career enthused people is comedy.

Comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Burr, and Louis C.K. have constantly seen the side of social media that many reporters say may be killing comedy. Most of the concern comes from the offended bloggers who go to a lot of comedy clubs or see these jokes on the internet, but they always hate on anything comedians say. Ian Crouch, the author of “Is Social Media Ruining Comedy”, is just what it sounds like, an article talking about the mixture of social media and comedy. In this Bill Burr talks about his new Netflix special and in this special he has to make sure everybody understands what he is talking about by saying “Let me finish before you start blogging, O.K.?” which is obviously a joke but people still get offended by this. Most jokes told nowadays are much more progressive and up to date with terms used now, but some comedians say this change is making everyone morons in a way. Louis C.K. tweeted about angry messages towards Tracy Morgan saying “It’s a dumb thing to take at face value, “You’d have to be a moron. And if you do, you are not allowed to laugh at any more jokes. You are not allowed to laugh at any jokes that have any violence or negative feelings attached to them, ironically or otherwise”. These comments about one joke made by one comedian are constant hate and banter over something people should laugh at. If joking around is taken to seriously now, then we have nothing left people will not get mad at and this is where ideas that social media does not like gets it in the hands of those who do not care.

In the hands of these people, it has completely separated the public sphere from rights we have like the first amendment. Social media is seen as the new “modern” public square which causes many problems with what is said on these sites. Lincoln Caplan, the author of “Stress Test for Free Speech“, has talked about how many social media platforms like Facebook are not bound by the First Amendment. These social media services are not extensions of the government which causes them to do and say what they want in the instances of controversy and what it does to their sites. Social media sites protect many things over private individuals “Although the quest for profit often shapes these private rules more than any commitment to free expression, these rules increasingly govern the public sphere.” This shows us that many social media sites do what they can to get by just to earn a profit from those who use their sites. These sites are not held accountable for what is posted which makes sense but even though they can manage what they censor, they have no reason to do so with this ability to not be held accountable for what is posted.

No matter how much you think about it makes no sense for social media to cause this hate and berate those who have different ideas. This censoring of opinions should be stopped as there is no reason for it, and it causes us to notice the government like space, social media is. The communication we love from social media is slowly being taken away without most people noticing and for most social media to not care about what we want to be done just so they can have a profit is quite unsettling. This digital age of international communication and opinionated people being shut off and becoming more like real communication scares tons of people yet most people do not care about this rule-breaking social media is doing.             

Works Cited

1. Caplan, L. (2019, October). Stress Test for Free Speech. Harvard Magazine. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2019/10/stress-test-for-free-speech
2. Crouch, I. (2017, September 19). Is Social Media Ruining Comedy? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/is-social-media-ruining-comedy
3. Daseler, G. (2018, June 11). The Internet’s Web of Lies. The American Conservative.
4. First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (n.d.). National Constitution Center.
5. Freedom of Speech. (2022, February 28). Legal Information Institute.
6. Greenwald, G. (2021, January 11). Silicon Valley’s Authoritarian Crackdown on Free Speech. Substack.
7. Griffith, E. (2021, May 6). Facebook Upholds Ban on Donald Trump’s Account. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/technology/facebook-trump-ban-upheld.html
8. Lax, R. (2022, January 6). Trump’s Twitter Ban Shows Why Congress Must Act to Protect Free Speech Online. The Hill.
9. Rosen, J. (2018, March 13). Fighting Fake News on Social Media. The New York Times.
10. Wadhwa, V. (2019, September 19). Why Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency Is In Trouble. Forbes.