Ep. 215: ‘Private Censorship’ with J.P. Messina

The First Amendment forbids government censorship. Private
institutions, on the other hand, are generally free to restrict
speech.


How should we think about private censorship and its role within
a liberal society?


On today’s episode, we’re joined by J.P. Messina, an assistant
professor in the philosophy department at Purdue University and
the author of the new book, “Private Censorship.”


Also on the show is Aaron Terr, FIRE’s director of public
advocacy.


Timestamps


0:00 Introduction


3:10 The origin story of “Private Censorship”


8:29 How does FIRE figure out what to weigh in on? 


12:04 Examples of private censorship 


18:24 Regulating speech at work 


22:21 Regulating speech on social media platforms


30:09 Is social media essentially a public utility?


35:50 Are internet service providers essentially public
utilities? 


44:43 Social media vs. ISPs 


51:02 Censorship on search engines 


59:47 Defining illiberalism outside of government censorship


1:16:06 Outro


 


Show Notes


Episode transcript


Packingham v. North Carolina (2017)


Cloudflare’s announcement regarding the Daily Stormer