Content Moderation and Private Censorship: Standards Drawn from the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System

This submission seeks to bring some of the standards that could be drawn from the Inter-American Human Rights System to the questions posed by the Rapporteur in his call for submissions on Private content regulation in the digital age. In the words of the Rapporteur, “Private companies facilitate an unprecedented global sharing of information and ideas. Social and search platforms in particular have become primary sources of news and information (and disinformation) for hundreds of millions of people. With that role they have also become gatekeepers of expression that may excite passions and knowledge – or incite hatred, discrimination, violence, harassment, and abuse.” It specifically asks “What steps should platforms, government actors, and others take to ensure that these processes establish adequate safeguards for freedom of expression?” This is the question we seek to address and try to establish whether the Inter-American system for the protection of human rights offers any guidance, either for companies and/or for States, to address content regulation in the digital age, and if so, what those standards look like. This submission concludes that the Inter-American System does provide some standards that could serve as a baseline for private actors, and offers concrete recommendations for States and private companies to further enhance the protection of freedom of expression in the digital age.