Private Judges of Online Speech

Judicialisation in Online Content Governance

Online platforms increasingly resolve offensive and problematic content by employing private adjudicatory mech­a­nisms originally designed to enhance platform accountability and to offer simple and effective online remedies. Comprised of internal appeals systems and independent adjudicatory bodies—such as Meta’s Oversight Board and out-of-court dispute settlement bodies under Article 21 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA)—the widespread prevalence of these quasi-judicial bodies signals a progressive ‘judicialisation’ of the digital sphere, wherein private adjudication is used not only to resolve online disputes, but as a mode of social ordering that develops global speech norms leading over time to a transnational law of online speech—a ‘lex digitalis sermonis’.
In response, this doctoral project takes a closer look at judicialisation and its role in shaping lex digitalis sermonis by examining whether it amply protects freedom of expression or merely amounts to ‘procedural fetishism’ that masks how online platforms’ technological architecture weakens the role of free speech in discovering the truth and holding power to account. Besides blending theoretical, doctrinal, and interdisciplinary methods, this project examines reported cases from Facebook and Wikipedia’s dispute resolution bodies—both with global reach and employing sophisticated online appeal mechanisms—and from out-of-court dispute resolution bodies authorised by Article 21 DSA.
While resonating with multiple axes of the Department’s topical research matrix, by examining the interplay between internationalisation, digitalisation, and fragmentation (and the challenges of protecting freedom of expression), this project aligns chiefly with the Department’s second research axis focusing on public security law’s three major trends. Substantive knowledge outcomes will include a more comprehensive understanding of the transnational law governing online speech, as well as public policy and law reform recommendations concerning the proper design and use of private adjudicatory mechanisms for protecting free speech online.