The Broken Promise of Free Expression

• In Event: Civic Counteraction: Listening, Speaking, and Deciding in Polarized Times

Abstract

Social media has democratized expression by giving anyone with an account the ability to express nearly any idea. In this way, social media brought mass expression closer to the theoretical ideals of a marketplace of ideas that Holmes and others advocate for. One might expect that Americans would become more supportive of this democratization of expression as they gain experience with how it works. Using an observational study and two experiments, I show the opposite is occurring. Social media democratized expression but this democratization has given rise (in the eyes of the American public) to misinformation, conspiracy theories, and propaganda. I show that, as a result, people are less willing to allow the exact same expressive acts on social media than in-person. Further, people are less supportive of free expression overall when primed to think about the democratization of expression social media represents. These findings indicate that social media is undermining public support for freedom of expression.

Author

• Tyler Leigh, University of Pennsylvania