What Platforms Mean When They Talk About Human Rights

Abstract

This article examines how staff working on two major Internet platforms—Google and Facebook—make sense of human rights such as freedom of expression and privacy. Based on interviews and online material, the article examines how the two rights are spoken of, how threats are perceived, and how the companies define their role in terms of protecting those rights. The article finds that both companies frame themselves as strongly committed to (and actively promoting) human rights. The framing, however, focuses primarily on potential human rights violations by governments, and pays less attention to areas where the companies’ own business practices may have a negative impact on their users’ rights and freedoms. While the platforms are spoken of using civic‐minded metaphors connected to people's ability to exercise rights and thus to participate in public life, the companies actually retain the freedom to set and enforce their own rules of engagement.