How Podcast Platforms Respond to Hate Speech: Clinic Releases New Memo

Via the Cyberlaw Clinic

Source: Pixabay

By: Carol Lin and Zach Glasser

Content regulation emerged as a controversial topic earlier this year after right-wing personality and frequent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones had his Infowars podcast removed from most platforms, including Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. Amid a social media firestorm, platforms rushed to ban Jones, sometimes within hours of each other, and often without articulating how exactly Jones’ speech violated their terms. The incident drew attention to the ethical and logistical challenges podcasting platforms face in balancing safety, diversity, and respect for free speech principles when articulating what content they allow on their services, and the difficulties in implementing such policies consistently.

Recognizing the importance of a principled approach, the Cyberlaw Clinic is pleased to release a new memorandum on content regulation policy for the podcasting community drafted by current Clinic students Zach Glasser and Carol Lin with Assistant Director Jessica Fjeld. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of podcasting platform RadioPublic, whose co-founder and CEO Jake Shapiro is a member of the Berkman Klein Fellows Advisory Board.

The memo emerged from the Clinic team’s discussions with RadioPublic following the Infowars controversy, and shares the results of our research about how the industry is presently dealing with hateful content through an analysis of major podcast platform content regulation policies. It lays out a concrete range of options platforms have to moderate offensive speech. It’s our hope that this memo helps tailor the wider conversation about content moderation, including the recent release of guidelines from the Change the Terms coalition, to the particular needs of podcasting platforms.

Learn more here.