kfriesth/human-rights-platform

A Thought Experiment: Using the UN Charter on Human Rights to Define Content Moderation and Privacy Policy Goals for Tech Companies

The Human Rights Governed Approach to Content Moderation and User Privacy

A thought experiment inspired by listening to David Kaye on the Lawfare Podcast. The TLDR Version: David Kaye is a UN expert on free speech and the freedom of expression. He's proposed that tech companies, especially social media companies, look to international human rights law (and in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) to guide their efforts at moderating content, especially. This approach leans towards allowing more freedom of expression, not less, but it does provide some guidelines for what content can and should be policed (and what the goals of such policing should be). Interestingly, Kaye also seems to suggest that taking an approach grounded in international law also gives companies a leg to stand on in terms of parsing which of the many national legal regimes they are going to adhere to and which they might decide to resist or ignore.

I welcome thoughts, feedback, suggestions, etc. You know the drill, file an issue or make a PR and let's chat.

The Human Rights Framework for Tech Companies/Platforms:

1. In so far as technology companies/platforms are generally oriented around information and communication, their foundational value should be the freedoms of speech and belief:
   • They should respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (Article 18).
   • They should respect the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers (Article 19).
   • They should respect the freedom of peaceful assembly and association (Article 20).
   • They should resepct the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state and the right to leave any country and to return to one’s own country (Article 13).
   • They should respect the right to own property (Article 17).
   • They should respect the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work, to just and favorable remuneration (including the right to equal pay for equal work), and to form and join trade unions (Article 23).
   • They should respect the right to partcipate in the cultural life of the community, in particular to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits (Article 27).
   • They should respect the right of individuals to participate in the government of their country (Article 21-1).
   • They should respect the right to equal access to public services (Article 21-2).
2. Notwithstanding this, technology companies/platforms have a duty to the community. In particular, they have a duty to ensure that:
   • They are not used to harm any individual’s rights to life, liberty, and security of person (Article 3).
   • They are not used to promote slavery or the slave trade in any form (Article 4).
   • They are not used to subject individuals to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Article 5).
   • They are not used to allow interference with any individual’s privacy, family, home, or correspondence (Article 12).
   • They are not used to attack an individual’s honor or reputation (Article 12).
   • They are not used to compel any association (Article 20).
   • They are not used to infringe upon the genuineness or integrity of any election (Article 21-3).
   • They are not used to exploit children or deprive them of anything necessary for their health and development (Article 25-2).
   • They are not used to infringe upon a parent’s right to choose the kind of education that should be given to their children (Article 26-3).
   • They are not used to infringe on the moral or material interests of any individual resulting from any scientific, literary, or artistic production of which they are the author (Article 27-2).
3. Platforms must determine the particular policies that will guide their protection and enforcement of these rights, subject to the limitations determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general welfare in a democratic society (Article 29). Platforms have no obligation to respect any law which is aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 30).