08/30/2024

Tech Oligarchs Cry Censorship

What it all means

If you happen to be someone who studies the relationship between tech oligarchs and state power, the past few days of news events have provided you with much to consider:

• On Saturday, French authorities detained Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire who is cofounder and CEO of Telegram, as part of an investigation opened in July into the moderation of alleged criminal activity on the platform.
• On Monday, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), in which Zuckerberg expressed regret about how his company responded to “repeated[] pressure” from the U.S. government on COVID-19 content moderation.
• And, on Wednesday, Brazil’s Supreme Court gave the billionaire Elon Musk 24 hours to name a legal representative for X, formerly known as Twitter, in Brazil or face a ban of the platform in the country.

Beyond the simple fact that these stories represent three significant developments in billionaire operators of social media and messaging applications encountering elements of the state, these three touch points also signal how their commitment to the so-called “marketplace of ideas” may increasingly be tested, especially when it comes to hosting harmful content. These developments also show the extent to which these billionaires all employ the concept of “censorship” in different ways to defend themselves against claims regarding their business practices and content moderation decisions. In fashioning themselves as proponents of free speech, these oligarchs argue they must not be held to account by agents of democratically elected governments. Of course, there is a line of government censorship that may well improperly intrude upon the companies, and, by extension, the rights of their users to communicate and receive information freely. So, what then might the week’s head-turning moments tell us about the future of the relationship between social media and democracy?

Please select this link to read the complete article from Just Security.