From the readings, what are the ethical, social, and moral concerns regarding online censorship? Should governments be able to suppress certain forms of speech? Should technology companies engage in the suppression of speech performed on their platforms? Consider the following:

  • Is it ethical for companies to remove dissenting opinions for governments?

I do not believe it is ethical to remove dissenting opinions. I suppose this applies differently to other nations, but at least for the United States, it is unethical. One of our unalienable rights is freedom of speech, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. Sure, some of them are going to be extremely controversial and evoke anger or sadness, but they should still be permitted.

  • Is it ethical for companies to remove information broadcasted by terrorism organizations, or about terrorism organizations?

In my opinion, yes this is perfectly ethical. If a terrorist group posts on Facebook something along the lines of “Big terrorist meeting tomorrow at 8pm to plot our attack on America; be there or be square”, I feel like that post can be safely removed without too much hesitation. On the other hand, if the post just contains information about a terrorist group, such as what they stand for, this should probably be grouped with the “dissenting opinions” and stay online. There is definitely a line to draw, but of course the difficulty lies in the placement of that line.

The next two questions relate back to question 1, “is it ethical to remove dissenting opinions for governments?”. In my opinion, you cannot remove hateful content or content that disagrees with government ideals. Online censorship is a serious concern; you should never think that what you are viewing censored material on the Internet.