How Are You Going To Complain If You Have No Mouth?

The Algorithm Did It!

One of the scenes from “The Matrix” showed Neo (referred to as Mr. Anderson by the agents of the matrix) warning his captors he would levy a charge of unlawful arrest if he were not released. The agent in charge asked him how he could possibly complain if he had no mouth. At this point the camera shifts to Neo–who has no mouth.

This scene is prescient in its depiction. Most of the main stream media outlets, such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter, actively censor alternative points of view. Their popular retreat seems to be, “the algorithm did it.” What remains unspoken, and largely unchallenged on any official level, is that those algorithms are nothing more than lines of code written by their employees, ostensibly under the direction of the corporate leadership.

Platform or Publisher?

The little I know abort tort law suggests that if an entity acts as a non-editorial platform, then they are relieved of most of their responsibility for the content on their “platform,” as they, ostensibly, do not choose or edit content others provide. On the other hand, if an entity does actively choose or edit content, then they are legally responsible for material they publish.

When an entity can limit content others publish through their platform are they not, in fact, editors, and therefore liable?

Further, if owners of suppressed content cannot initiate legal proceedings due to legislation that precludes them from doing so, do they not become like Neo, in that they have no mouth to claim illegitimate treatment?