Big Tech's uneasy balance of capitalism, censorship

Posted January 14, 2021

External Article: Tech Target

School of Public Policy Professor Milton Mueller and Associate Professor Hans Klein were quoted in the article, "Big Tech's uneasy balance of capitalism, censorship," published Jan. 14 in Tech Target.

Excerpt:

Not everyone agrees that Section 230 should be modified to prevent the kind of speech that led to the events of Jan. 6.

"If I post something that's illegal, like libel or child pornography, the company is not responsible, I am," said Milton Mueller, program director for Cybersecurity Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Common communications carriers like telephone companies are not subject to speech patrol, and social media shouldn't be either, Mueller said.

Hans Klein, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said allowing the government to regulate speech online will narrow the content on social media to what the government finds acceptable. He added that he fears this will, in turn, stifle dissent.

Read the full article.