Freedom of Expression vs Access to Information

Freedom of expression is the right to not suffer retaliation for what is said or published but it does not give us the right to force anyone to listen, publish or disseminate what we say.

The perverse effects that private monopolies like Twitter, Facebook or Google are having on the global conversation and the right to information must not framed within the classic debate of freedom of expression but on the new debate of about the access to information, encompassing the ongoing transition of our societies form communication control based on expression to one based on attention.

While it is arguably that intermediaries should be able to retain flexibility to choose what content they do and do not wish to host, this flexibility cannot be granted to private monopolies that currently host global conversations acting as public agoras. Instead, they have to be controlled and regulated to ensure their respect for freedom of expression and diversity.

In the long term, we must move towards the creation of distributed information and global conversation spaces that can be managed as common goods, with public support and resources if needed, instead of having to rely on private monopolies.