Let’s talk about Parler and related “free speech” spaces, shall we? (and let’s be real, if your music discussion board, social media, or shop’s words and behaviors go unregulated, you have a “free speech” space!)
If you are reading to this, you probably agree that what happened at the Capitol on January 6th was very, very bad. That it was a threat, not just to our democracy, but to an equitable and just country, free from white supremacy, which are needed in order for democracy to function. Which, arguably, it doesn’t and never has in America… but that’s another story.
You, like me, have probably also never been on Parler. But I bet you have been to other spaces online, or in-person spaces, that go largely unregulated. I recently listened to an interview by Kara Swisher of the Sway podcast with the CEO of Parler, John Matze, that they recorded the evening of the insurgence. He thoroughly denied any responsibility for what was happening. He laid out the way they moderate their content, which involves a panel of 5 users who vote on the acceptability of their content. Otherwise they only remove illegal content.
Just a few days after this interview, Parler was pulled from the Apple and Google Play Stores, from Amazon, and (now former) President Trump was pulled from Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms, as well.
I don’t think it’s overstating it to note the importance Parler, Twitter, Facebook groups, and the like, have had in spewing unregulated lies and creating space to organize dangerous plans, culminating in the events of January 6th.
This gets at my main point, which is that spaces that don’t focus on rights and safety of ALL, ultimately lead to harm for all. And if your space is basically a free-for-all, that includes your space, too.
I’m going to cover a few of the problems with these spaces, online and in-person and then, a few potential solutions.
PROBLEM 1: Freedom of Speech for Whom?
The first issue is that the lack of regulations in these spaces is under the auspices of “freedom of speech”. But if someone is so threatened by your speech that they can’t even engage in a conversation, whose speech is really under attack? This is basically weighing one person’s human rights against someone else’s right to say harmful things. It should be obvious that someone else’s human rights are more important than someone else’s ability say whatever they want, even if it harms others or insights violence. In other words, my right to freedom of speech stops when it infringes on your right to speech, safety, or other human rights.
PROBLEM 2: Words Are Powerful
The second issue is that words can cause real harm. Growing up, you were likely told “sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you.” Perhaps on the hierarchy of harm, it isn’t at the top, but it builds the conditions where further harm becomes acceptable.
How are words powerful?
One way this shows up is in abusive relationships. Those who grow up hearing abusive language about themselves are more likely to be in abusive relationships as adults. Another way this shows up is in the influence of powerful people around us. This could be the President, a musician, or a popular person in the social media space.
If you believe you aren’t influenced by anyone around you and are totally making all of your decisions on your own, congratulations, because you have beaten 100 years of psychological science. Whether it’s rape jokes or Pepe the Frog; this behavior is normalizing harm, which leads harm to worsen.
And, of course, words can also be used to organize violence, which we saw last week.
PROBLEM 3: Freedom of Speech Does Not Mean Freedom From Consequences
Yes, legally, someone may have the right to say what they want. But it doesn’t mean that they should expect freedom from consequences. If you engage in harmful language or behavior, some people might be harmed, and you might get kicked out of a space or off of a website. In a privately-owned space, the owners or moderators have a right to determine what is acceptable behavior and the related consequences.
People interacting on social media are people. Online spaces should be treated like real places with real consequences for folks’ words and actions. If they aren’t, it should not be a surprise when people act like there are no consequences.
“...my right to freedom of speech stops when it infringes on your right to speech, safety, or other human rights.”
This is a huge problem. And it’s been a problem for-EVER. But as we have learned, managing spaces, especially online can be a real challenge.
So, what are some solutions?
SOLUTION 1: Identify Who Isn’t There
How do you know who isn’t there if they aren’t there? Especially online, this can be tough. It’s easier to read a room when you can see who is there. one way to figure this out is to do a survey of who IS there and reverse engineer it.
Once you learn who isn’t there, find them and ask them what they would want in a space like yours and how you could best provide it. Inviting those folks into leadership in the space can help. But, this may take time. People who aren’t there probably aren’t there for a reason— which is usually that they have learned, either from the words or behaviors of those who participate in it that it actually ISN’T for them.
In that case, you will need to build trust if you want them to participate in your spaces. If they have really been burned, they may decide that they’d rather create and participate in their own spaces. And that totally makes sense, right? Why would they want to participate in a space where they don’t feel welcomed, let alone centered?
SOLUTION 2: Live Your Values
But, if you do hope to grow a more welcoming space a good step is to ask: Does your space, company, or organization have a mission or values statement? These types of statements can be EXTREMELY helpful in guiding your moderation when it comes to both online and in-person moderation and expectations. For example, if you are a workplace, creating a value like, “We respect each other”, what does that mean? You can operationalize it by saying that “We encourage constructive dialogue and hard conversations,” “We build trust so we can have those conversations,” or “Hard conversations do not mean harmful language”. Or something to that effect.
What might this look like in practice? When moderating social media, you might allow some conversation to occur, but if it gets harsh, you delete it and contact the person, sharing resources and having a one-on-one dialogue. You tell them that you would love to have them as a part of the community if they make some changes.
Values are useful to companies and spaces in so many decision-making contexts both internally and externally. Whether it’s deciding how to deal with a band who has been accused of engaging in harmful behavior or someone making offensive comments on Instagram, they can be a great tool.
SOLUTION 3: Creating Community Agreements
Once you’ve created your values, you can use them to help guide your community agreements. Understanding the expectations of a space, whether in-person or online is tantamount when it comes to creating spaces where everyone really feels comfortable bringing their whole selves to the table.
While values are often an internal tool for a company, community agreements are used by and created with the community who is participating. Both online spaces and in-person, this might mean that you need to explicitly lay out needs like, “No hate speech” with an explanation of examples. It might mean that you need to explicitly state that offensive comments and memes will be pulled and that someone might be kicked out or banned. It might mean that you have a clear accountability process where someone is given a chance to do some reading or have a dialogue about the issue and they are allowed back after they’ve done the work and can contribute positively to the space.
In essence, you are creating a space that supports the rights of oppressed groups over someone else’s white supremacist, sexist, or otherwise harmful speech. And if that’s the type of space you want to create, go forth and create it! I discussed some specifics around creating community agreements in my blog titled “Community Agreements and Covid-19,” from early in the pandemic, which I’ll link to in the show notes.
Hopefully, some of this is helpful in thinking about the ways that we talk about free speech and what it actually looks like and means in practice.
Of course, all of this needs to be paired with large-scale systemic change. But this is the piece that we have control over in the spaces where we engage, whether online, at work, or beyond. If we want to create a music community where everyone feels like they belong— that they feel safe and supported creating and participating in— it is our responsibility to create these truly free spaces together.