Should Social Media Be Censored?
Every platform you use takes things down. This week is about whether they should, and who gets to decide. You'll find out that the First Amendment doesn't work the way most people assume it does online, that hate speech and false posts have been traced to real violence, and that taking content down often doesn't stop it from spreading. You'll pick a side early — and then you'll have to argue the other one.
Reading List
Read and watch these before Tuesday. They're also linked in Canvas. Bring something specific from at least one of them to your breakout room — you'll be asked to back up what you say.
Required
- Should Bad Science Be Censored on Social Media? — BBC
- How Online Hate Turns into Real-Life Violence — The Washington Post
- Study: 'Accuracy Nudge' Could Curtail COVID-19 Misinformation Online — MIT Sloan
- Should Social Media Platforms Censor Hate Speech? — Nadine Strossen, Big Think (video)
If You Want More
- The Limits of Free Speech in Social Media — UNT Dallas College of Law. The clearest explanation of why the First Amendment works differently online.
- Can Social Media Firms Tackle Hate Speech? — Knowledge at Wharton
- Radical Ideas Spread Through Social Media. Are the Algorithms to Blame? — NOVA
One-Week Plan
Here's the shape of the week. Your guide will set the exact timing for your section.
Say What You Think First
You'll write for five minutes on what you already believe about censoring social media — before you see any data. Write it honestly; nobody is grading the opinion.
Then we go through the data together: how fast social media use has grown, where people actually get their news, and a survey showing what kinds of content people do and don't want removed. That last one is worth your attention — almost everyone agrees about some categories and almost nobody agrees about others.
At the end of class you'll write two things in your notebook: one way the data backed up what you already thought, and one way it pushed against it. You need both. If you can't find something that challenged you, look again.
Small Groups, by Position
After a five-minute free write, you'll go into a breakout room with people who landed where you did. You'll explain why you picked your position, go back through the materials looking for support, and build your talking points for Wednesday.
Questions your group will work through include what "censorship" even means, whether false information alone is a reason to remove something, how being a private company changes the First Amendment question, and why people spread false stories faster than true ones.
The part people skip: your notebook asks for questions from your side and questions from the opposite side. Do the second list. It's the difference between a good Wednesday and a flat one.
The Whole Group
Everyone together. Some of what you'll be asked:
- Can anyone remove content without bias creeping in? If not, is it still okay to do it?
- Should platforms protect free speech even though the law doesn't require them to?
- Is taking down content treating people like they can't think for themselves?
- Should the government ever set the rules for what's allowed online?
Before you leave, note the big themes and what you're still unsure about — and find one new article or video to bring in Thursday.
Your Sources This Time
You'll share what you found and write down what your classmates brought. The discussion picks up where Wednesday stopped instead of starting over.
Expect to get pushed on the hard evidence: removing accounts did slow down COVID misinformation, but spread those accounts across other platforms. Putting warning labels on false headlines might make people assume everything without a label is true. Neither of those has a clean answer.
Score Your Own Week
Four questions: what went well, what you want to do better next week, what you learned, and whether anything you believed on Monday actually changed.
Then the participation matrix — did you speak, did you use the materials, did you ask a question, did you respond to someone else, did you interrupt anyone. Be honest. This is your read on your own week, not a grade you're arguing for.