Resumen de Freedom of Expression in the Internet

Maya Hertig Randall

• The internet offers vastly enhanced communicative opportunities. At the same time, its ability to amplify ideas and information in space and time also entails greater potential to cause harm than traditional means of communication. Against this background, the first part of this paper examines to what extent courts have extended traditional free speech principles to communication in the internet. In the light of the classic free speech framework, the second part analyses the specific challenges raised by internet-based communication, including, for instance, the lack of a clear, transparent regulatory framework, the risks of automated systems of speech control and collateral censorship, and the difficulties to reconcile the need to afford victims of hate speech and other crimes effective protection with the concern to prevent a chilling effect detrimental to the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression.