Social media platforms are in serious need of an intervention, as disinformation campaigns seek to disrupt societies, hate speech courses through networks around the world, and online mobs incite real-world violence. While the European Union has implemented its Digital Services Act and other countries have established new platform rules, the United States has remained critically indecisive, sitting on the sidelines as the race unfolds to develop policies for governing our modern Babel of networked communication. Drawing on the hundred-year journey of modern American communications regulation—from the creation of the FCC to Section 230 and beyond — this talk argues for a new “response principle” that would establish a duty of care for platforms to take reasonable action when harms present themselves. Having unleashed considerable global risk while reaping vast economic benefit, the U.S. has both an obligation and opportunity to formulate a democratic alternative to Europe’s regulatory model and China’s surveillance-state approach. Professor John Wihbey of Northeastern University will discuss ideas from his forthcoming book Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech – and What Comes Next (MIT Press)

John Wihbey is an associate professor at Northeastern University, where he is a Faculty Co-Director of the Institute for Information, the Internet, and Democracy, and director of the AI-Media Strategies Lab (AIMES). He is author of The Social Fact (2019) and the new book Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech – and What Comes Next (MIT Press) John has worked in news media and served as a consultant to technology companies, foundations, and government.