In the aftermath of the US Capitol riot, technology companies from Facebook and Youtube to Shopify, Snapchat, Twitch and TikTok deplatformed the outgoing US president along with myriad of other accounts responsible for spreading disinformation about the US elections and inciting a deadly insurrection at the heart of American democracy. Parler, a right-wing social media company, faced the same fate from its service providers. Despite little sympathy for facilitators of anti-democratic sentiment, this unprecedented move highlights the unchecked power of technology companies. With an eye on legislative efforts in the EU and US, we navigate around questions of accountability and liability for social media companies. While different constitutional traditions shape the global debate, policymakers still face the same dilemmas. How can constitutional safeguards be juxtaposed against corporate responsibility? Where to draw the line between censorship and freedom of speech? And most importantly, who determines what stays online.

Prof. Florence G’sell is the co-director of the Chair Digital, Governance, and Sovereignty at Sciences Po Paris. As a full professor of private law at the University of Lorraine and associate researcher at IHEJ, her main research focus is the issues of private law from a comparative perspective and the issues raised by the digital transition.