Privatisation of Censorship and the Commercialisation of Propaganda in the Age of Big Platforms - Rethinking of Censorship and Propaganda in a Changing Global System.

The rise of global digital platforms has fundamentally transformed the architecture of public discourse, shifting significant power over speech from states to private corporations. This panel examines the dual phenomena of privatised censorship—where platform governance mechanisms restrict expression through content moderation, algorithmic ranking, and deplatforming—and the commercialisation of propaganda, whereby disinformation, manipulation, and influence operations are increasingly embedded in market-driven logics of attention economies.
Drawing on comparative case studies from multiple jurisdictions, the panel will explore how platform policies, often developed without democratic oversight, function as de facto regulatory regimes that shape the boundaries of permissible speech. Particular attention will be paid to the tension between platforms’ self-regulatory commitments to human rights and their commercial incentives to maximise engagement, as well as to the implications of these dynamics for freedom of expression, media pluralism, and democratic deliberation.
The panel brings together scholars of human rights, media law, digital governance, and political communication to critically assess the normative and institutional challenges posed by the privatisation of censorship and the commercialisation of propaganda. Contributions may address regulatory responses (including the EU’s Digital Services Act and Media Freedom Act), the role of algorithmic transparency and accountability, and the prospects for reimagining platform governance in ways that safeguard democratic values and fundamental rights.