Private Actors, Public Consequences

Abstract

In its early days, social media was lauded as a tool that could bring down authoritarian regimes and usher in a new era of democratization. A decade later, these hopes have not only failed to bear fruit, but social media has helped repressive regimes surveil their citizens and manipulate popular opinion for their own strategic gain. Meanwhile, companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter—each of which have user bases larger than the population of most countries—remain largely unregulated in the United States, in part by opportunistically claiming or rejecting the role of "publisher." But as long as these tech giants are able to elude classification (and therefore regulation), savvy governments will continue to use social media to incite violence, sow chaos, and increase oppression.