Barry McDonald interview, "After Charlottesville, examining how tech giants are becoming gatekeepers" -- KPCC AirTalk
August 21, 2017 | By Kylie Larkin -- Professor Barry P. McDonald participated in an interview, "After Charlottesville, examining how tech giants are becoming gatekeepers for online content," which aired on the KPCC radio program AirTalk. The segment considered the limits of free speech protections.
Via KPCC AirTalk:
Monday, Domain name registrar GoDaddy de-listed the popular neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer. Google did the same after backlash when the site switched its registration there.
All of this raises the issue of whether, and if so how much, tech companies like Google, Facebook and GoDaddy should be policing the content on their sites. Some say it's about time the companies start taking responsibility for offensive things that use their infrastructure as a platform to spread their message. Others worry about a slippery slope situation regarding free speech, and that the censorship could go too far.
Do you think these tech giants should be the gatekeepers in deciding what is offensive and what isn't for their sites, or do you worry about the potential for going too far and running afoul of the First Amendment?
More on the program and an audio link may be found at www.scpr.org