When is too much freedom too much?

New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, is widely considered one of America's leading legal scholars on freedom of speech and has written extensively about the evolution of that fundamental freedom in the digital age.

Q. What do Donald Trump and the Ayatollah Khamenei have in common with Rihanna?

A.They have all been banned from social media. Social media has become the lifeblood of modern culture. But it has evolved in ways which reward excessive outrage excessively and which encourage hyper attention to the immediate—untethered from traditions, knowledge, and values. One result is rising anger, increasing polarization, and easy manipulation of public opinion and of elections.

Should online speech be regulated? If so, by whom? Is it good public policy to ask Silicon Valley executives to self-police? Whose values should drive decisions about what is allowed and what is banned?
Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, is widely considered one of America's leading legal scholars on freedom of speech and has written extensively about the evolution of that fundamental freedom in the digital age. In this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast, he wrestles with the challenges of social media.