Combating Hate Speech on Social Networks. Content Moderation Challenges and the Potential of Social Media Councils

The protection of fundamental rights and the fight against hate speech on the Internet has proven to be complex. This is because the once bilateral state-citizen interaction now has an extra player: Internet’s social network platforms. Control of online expression is in the hands of a small number of players – Meta, Google, X – who moderate content for billions of people based primarily on engagement and profitability. Recently, one of the most important regulations in this sector has been passed: the Digital Services Act. The DSA is designed to increase transparency and accountability in the digital realm. Some scholars predict a potential Brussels Effect of the DSA, both de jure and de facto. The fear is that a DSA-like law could become a tool to impose the will of oppressive governments instead of safeguarding users’ rights. In an authoritarian context, the ability to intervene and regulate digital content can be used to silence dissent and control the political narrative. This leaves us in a difficult conundrum. We cannot trust platforms because they have financial incentives that do not always align with user safety or the interests of society at large. If we cannot trust some governments either, what are the remaining alternatives? My hypothesis is that Social Media Councils could be a potential solution.