|
Abstract: 40% of Americans self-censor their speech online. While staggering, the hidden phenomenon beneath this figure reveals a more dystopic outlook for the future of free speech. The powerful predictive technologies driving social media platforms, which the Supreme Court dubbed “the most important spaces for the exchange of views,” control the terms of modern speech and the scope of political discourse. The Supreme Court’s laissez faire posture toward online speech moderation has only empowered digital dominion over modern expression and citizenship to the detriment of free speech principles.
As such, the primary threat to free speech today is not the state but Big Tech intermediaries. Tech giants like Meta, this Article’s focal case study, not only regulate political expression and identity, but reshape them in line with everchanging interests. Through facially neutral speech policies enforced by content moderation regimes steered by private instead of liberty interests, Meta digital platforms: (1) Gamify speech by reducing expression into a system of conditioned patterns and scorable outcomes, (2) Reward conformist speech and punish dissident speech within a controlled platform of shifting private political interests, (3) Suppress visibility of speech and accounts of dissident users, and elevate visibility of speech and accounts of obedient users; and, (4) Exact hidden infractions on online expression and identity, which blur into First Amendment harms within traditional public forums.
In one year, Meta enacted moderation policies that categorically suppressed “political content” then shifted to a “more speech” standard announced on January 7, 2025. The reform reveals private opportunism and the perils it poses to modern speech and citizenship. While legal scholars examine the regulatory tension between the state and digital platforms, scarce attention is paid to bound subjects in between: the people. This Article sounds that alarm and centers harms suffered by individuals – crafting original theory and analysis interrogating how Meta’s gamification of modern expression exacts unseen and enduring infractions on speech, citizenship, and identity.
|