Words Left Unspoken: The External Forces Shaping Online Discourse

• Main Author: Curd B. Knüpfer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Göttingen University Press 2016-10-01
• Series: American Studies Journal
• Subjects: censorship; Internet; online discourse; power; social media
• Online Access: http://www.asjournal.org/61-2016/words-left-unspoken/

This article examines how various aspects of US politics and culture may define the boundaries of transnational online discourse. The argument presented focuses on two general categories by which these dynamics may emerge, namely systemic and agential factors. Systemic limitations include language, codes and protocols, algorithms, and parameters set by media specific terms of services. Agential factors are tied to specific sets of political and economic interests, legal frameworks or cultural norms, as well as individual forms of human agency involved in content moderation. As these examples show, the speech environments we encounter in our daily online interactions do not take place in an ephemeral (cyber-)space devoid of power relations. In order to understand their boundaries, we must come to understand the forces that shape them. Doing so may illuminate how online content comes to reflect deep-seeded power dynamics within US culture, Western societies, as well as transnational politics.