A Principled Approach to Infrastructure Moderation
Abstract
At a time when debates on content moderation have largely focused on the role and responsibilities of social media platforms, this article draws attention to the less discussed power that Internet infrastructure providers exert over the way in which content is accessed and shared online. With the rise of less moderated ‘free speech’ platforms, the role of responsible content moderator is increasingly falling to the companies which keep these platforms online. While many have questioned the legitimacy of so-called ‘infrastructure moderation’, this article suggests that infrastructure providers should play a limited role in content moderation, which is defined by reference to a regulatory framework based on principles of proportionality, transparency, and procedural fairness.
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