The development on the EU approach to online privacy and brief history of online content moderation

As demonstrated by the leaks of Facebook’s content moderation manuals, online platforms govern the speech published via their services pursuant to sui generis set of norms that aligns perfectly neither with the US nor with European standards for what constitutes legitimate expression. Such expression norms underwent significant changes from the moment of the inception of social media as such. Thus, the question arises how different forces might shape the online public discourse. The decision on where to place the boundaries of public discourse is eventually a normative one, requiring a judgment about the priorities of a given community. The assumption here is that the strengthening the protections for privacy online in Europe might be a factor for shaping social media community norms on a global scale. It will be tested through the development of the historical perspective on content moderation in parallel with the policy changes within the EU.