22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’
-
Helen Pallett
Abstract
The rise of the internet and social media has been hailed as the ultimate embodiment of the long-promised ‘marketplace of ideas’. Like the notion of the free market, this metaphor has long been a seductive one in Western political philosophy, implying the free exchange of views and information between equals. The metaphor has been applied to diverse domains of public life, from science to the media, arguing that they – and this free exchange of ideas – are fundamental to healthy democracy. Social media platforms have become one such domain, championed for enhancing the marketplace of ideas by extending it to encompass more participants, longer discussions, and far greater exposure to new ideas and information. Yet many of us who use social media platforms on a regular basis do not experience them as anything resembling this idealised marketplace of free expression. This chapter will argue that the metaphor of the marketplace of ideas is unhelpful, as it obscures the multitude of ways in which our speech is not free. This argument highlights the internal contradictions of understandings of democracy and free speech in liberal democracies as well as undermining hyperbolic claims about the democratic potentials of social media platforms.
Abstract
The rise of the internet and social media has been hailed as the ultimate embodiment of the long-promised ‘marketplace of ideas’. Like the notion of the free market, this metaphor has long been a seductive one in Western political philosophy, implying the free exchange of views and information between equals. The metaphor has been applied to diverse domains of public life, from science to the media, arguing that they – and this free exchange of ideas – are fundamental to healthy democracy. Social media platforms have become one such domain, championed for enhancing the marketplace of ideas by extending it to encompass more participants, longer discussions, and far greater exposure to new ideas and information. Yet many of us who use social media platforms on a regular basis do not experience them as anything resembling this idealised marketplace of free expression. This chapter will argue that the metaphor of the marketplace of ideas is unhelpful, as it obscures the multitude of ways in which our speech is not free. This argument highlights the internal contradictions of understandings of democracy and free speech in liberal democracies as well as undermining hyperbolic claims about the democratic potentials of social media platforms.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
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Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors viii
- Introduction 1
-
Protecting freedom of speech
- 1 Protecting the freedom of speech 23
- 2 Open-air free speech 30
- 3 The problem of neutrality and intellectual freedom 43
- 4 In a diverse society, is freedom of speech realisable? 53
- 5 Training readers as censors in Nazi Germany 63
- 6 Is boycotting for or against free speech? 74
-
Free speech as a weapon
- 7 When is free speech not about freedom? 87
- 8 Drinking the hemlock 95
- 9 Secularism, Islamophobia and free speech in France 103
- 10 The logic of nonsense 115
- 11 Weaponised Swissness 131
- 12 Free speech and the British press 143
-
Free speech on campus
- 13 Free speech and preventing radicalisation in higher education 157
- 14 Anatomy of a ‘trigger warning’ scandal 168
- 15 Grad school as conversion therapy 180
- 16 Teaching ‘freedom of speech’ freely 192
- 17 The politicisation of campus free speech in Portugal 200
- 18 Do we need safe spaces? 211
-
The internet: the Wild West of free speech
- 19 A postmodern neo-Marxist’s guide to free speech 227
- 20 Free speech and online masculinity movements 239
- 21 Choose your fighter 251
- 22 Free speech in the online ‘marketplace of ideas’ 261
- Index 271
