[JPEG Laboratory Seminar] Session 1 - Julie Charpenet: "The moderation of online content. An essay on regulating global conversation".

Doctoral student at the University of Avignon - .JPEG Laboratory

As the law speeds up, there has recently been a proliferation of legislation aimed at regulating illegal content in order to protect society from its ills.

These instruments strengthen the obligations of social network companies by including them in the legal arsenal against the dissemination of terrorist, hate or child pornography content. Nevertheless, these measures have been adopted in a scattered and often divergent or even contradictory manner. At the same time, social network companies are contractually arrogating to themselves prerogatives aimed at defining what can be said, known, seen or read, over and above strictly illegal content. Despite the concerns, if not the worries, that moderation practices raise about unduly limiting the freedom of expression of billions of users, the moderation of content per se seemed to escape the vigilance of legislators. The legal approach to moderation of online content does, however, have the potential to be coherent. It appears to be the functional tool for regulating online content in the hands of commercial companies. The European legislator has finally seized upon the activity of moderation for its own sake. In so doing, it moves from regulating the moderation of illegal content to regulating the moderation of content per se, which should be seen in the context of a practical understanding of the functions of moderation.

The meeting will take place on mFriday 26 September 2023 at 2.00 pm in room 2E04