The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
On May 17, 2023, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation banning TikTok in the state. The law imposes fines of US$10,000 per day on any app store that offers the popular Chinese-owned video social media app, and on the app maker itself if it operates in the state. Individual users are not subject to penalties. Continue reading
Assailed from all quarters for being not tough enough, for being too tough, for being fundamentally misconceived, for threatening freedom of expression, for technological illiteracy, for threatening privacy, for excessive Ministerial powers, or occasionally for the sin of not being some other Bill entirely – and yet enjoying almost universal cross-party Parliamentary support – the UK’s Online Safety Bill is now limping its way through the House of Lords. It starts its Committee stage on 19 April 2023. Continue reading
Certain cases capture the public’s attention and generate an extraordinary volume of reportage, scrutiny, comment and speculation. The disappearance of Madeline McCann while on holiday with her family in Portugal is the one of the most striking examples, but more recently the tragic murder of the teenager, Brianna Grey, in a Warrington park, led to the public being asked by Cheshire Constabulary to “avoid speculation online and be wary of sharing misinformation”. Continue reading
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, recently hinted that he may ban the social media application TikTok from devices used by government employees. Continue reading
Gary Lineker isn’t so special. He might be a millionaire celebrity whose tweet criticising the government led to a crisis at the BBC and a national argument. But in being suspended from his job for something he’d posted on social media, he actually experienced something that could happen to almost anyone. Continue reading
This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases – Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh – that have the potential to fundamentally change how social media companies recommend and moderate content. Both cases will impact the scope of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act which shields internet platforms from liability for content posted on their platforms. Section 230 is viewed by many as one of the foundations of internet freedom. Continue reading
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and his controversial statements and decisions as its owner, have fueled a new wave of calls for regulating social media companies. Elected officials and policy scholars have argued for years that companies like Twitter and Facebook – now Meta – have immense power over public discussions and can use that power to elevate some views and suppress others. Continue reading
Ever since Elon Musk took Twitter private for US$44 billion (£36 billion), the debate around the social media platform has been vitriolic. There has been considerable angst about the direction Musk has been taking the company and his potential backpedalling on initial promises about free speech. Continue reading
One of Elon Musk’s stated reasons for purchasing Twitter was to use the social media platform to defend the right to free speech. The ability to defend that right, or to abuse it, lies in a specific piece of legislation passed in 1996, at the pre-dawn of the modern age of social media. Continue reading
From what feels like time immemorial the UK government has paraded its proposed online harms legislation under the banner of ‘What is Illegal Offline is Illegal Online’. As a description of what is now the Online Safety Bill, the slogan is ill-fitting. The Bill contains nothing that extends to online behaviour a criminal offence that was previously limited to offline. Continue reading
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