Participants from diverse backgrounds will share examples when a social media platform took down something they (or someone they know) posted. It could be anything - from erotic art, a picture of a wounded protestor, a video of an abusive police officer, or a sarcastic tweet mocking an extremist leader. Participants will contemplate the likely reasons for the removal - was it an AI’s mistake; was it a human reviewer misjudging the post’s context, or was it willfully censored?
Through case studies, participants will discuss the implications of takedown legislations for free speech and activism. Participants will ponder over whether the benefits of takedown legislations cause more harm than good? Do they silence narratives and speakers for whom the online space is the safest? Finally, participants will collaborate to think of ideal frameworks that balance taking down illegal content and protecting free speech online.
If 3 participants attend: we would open additional questions to participants such as – how should illegal and extremist content be regulated online? How do we build campaigns that convince policymakers to rethink these legislations that already exist? How do we nudge policymakers to conduct broader stakeholder consultation before passing legislations in the future?
If 30 participants attend: we would divide them in break-out rooms of 6 members so each participant gets adequate time to share their experiences. We would then reconvene briefly to collectively discuss case studies of the impact of legislations some legislations in different regions of the world. We will again split participants into breakout rooms and ask each group to discuss techniques through which policymakers would rethink their approach to content moderation and content takedown. To conclude the session, two volunteering note-takers from each discussion room would share the highlights of each of their sessions.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:The ideals, principle and models discussed in the session would become the starting point for further activism and research on the implications of takedown legislations. The Future of Free Speech Project (the facilitators’ parent organization) has previously published reports on how German’s NetzDG has acted as a global prototype for censorship around the world. We continue to work with tech experts, human rights lawyers and academicians to advocate and lobby against these legislations. We are also working to conducting a virtual stakeholder consultation in 2021 to channelize these efforts and we would offer participants of this MozFest session the opportunity of joining our next Stakeholder Consultation. We will also set up a slack channel that participants can choose to join to share our collective efforts in the field and build momentum that leads to the rolling back or dilution of these legislations around the world.
Jacob Mchangama is the founder and executive director of Justitia and the Future of Free Speech Project.
Raghav Mendiratta is an Indian qualified advocate and a legal researcher specialising in the areas of freedom of speech, privacy, media, technology, and criminal law.