Date: November 8, 2024 (Friday)
Speaker: Dr Sean Donahue, Australian National University
Chair: Dr Frank Hong, The University of Hong Kong
Abstract:
Political philosophers have long been concerned with how to avoid state tyranny, the condition of governments having arbitrary power over citizens. A standard response is that avoiding tyranny requires making power holders conform to rule of law principles, for instance by considering their power legitimate only when used according to rules that are public, fairly enforced, and meaningfully contestable. Political scientists, economists, and journalists meanwhile often claim online platforms are sites of tyranny, given the arbitrary power their owners have over their users. This raises the question: When are state and platform tyranny sufficiently similar that platforms must follow rule of law principles to govern their users legitimately? I argue the analogy can hold for virtual communities. Given the critical role some virtual communities play in meeting their members’ needs for information and socialization, platforms must govern these communities according to rule of law principles to be legitimate.
