News / Recap
Balancing online freedom of speech and protection from harm
How do we balance free expression with protecting individuals from harm? And who should take responsibility—governments, platforms, civil society, or all of them together?
The Content Moderation Lab, in collaboration with Das NETTZ, explored these questions with fresh insights at re:publica 2025. Drawing on survey data from 10 democracies, we examined how citizens think harmful content should be handled.
In an interactive workshop led by Friederike Quint (Content Moderation Lab) and Amos Wasserwach (Das NETTZ), participants stepped into the shoes of citizens from ten different countries, debating how their societies would balance content moderation with democratic values. The session drew directly on the findings of our latest large-scale global survey—highlighting public attitudes toward content moderation and online hate.
The key message:
To create a healthier digital public environment, civil society must align with user preferences, and researchers must communicate beyond academia. Most citizens recognize the harm of toxic online discourse but now we need to build strategies and tools that reflect this understanding.
