Blog #7: On Technology and the Freedom of Speech

One of the eight values of free expression that really stuck with me was the fourth one listed, Individual Self-Fulfillment (or Self-Actualization). It's in this value that we talk about the action of free speech and what it does for us. What it means for us on the individual level. How it helps us identify who we really are. Beings able to talk about what is possibly controversial to the public, but still be protected from a crowd trying to silence you, this allows us to tackle tough, general issues like race, religion, political polarization, etc.

And being that it’s 2020, the internet has become possibly a necessity than it once was a few decades ago. The internet allows us to not only connect to friends and family seemingly impossible distances away while simultaneously catching up on the latest dramas of our favorite fictional characters. The potential is practically endless. But with every platform of free speech, there come its issues.

Facebook and YouTube is the two big companies that have been in the news about free speech. You’ve probably heard a discussion about how YouTube specifically should be treated as a platform or a company. If it’s a company, then it should be allowed to silence and or remove those who they don’t like. But if it’s the “New Public Square,” of our time since Newspapers are going (and have been) out of fashion, a place to make videos (and using the internet to research) about certain topics can be important since it allows people all over the world to weigh in, give their two sense and hopefully support the talk to progress us as a people. But then is it ok to silence those who have a different opinion on the matter? Should it be allowed to become an echo chamber?

Just last November, a YouTuber by the name of MatPat under the channel The Game Theorists gives us a video about YouTube and, what you’ve probably heard about, the COPPA incident, and what that means for content creators. MatPat even talks about how YouTube and the FTC and how YouTube is acting in trying to be child-friendly despite there being an age requirement for a YouTube account (being 13 years or older).