RightsCon Toronto 2018

In the past year, democratic governments have moved to regulate online content like never before. From the Supreme Court of Canada's Equustek decision (the first by a court of final resort to order the global de-indexation of content) to Germany's "NetzDG" law (requiring social media companies to remove "obviously illegal" content within 24 hours), concerns are mounting of a "race to the bottom" as every country seeks to enforce its national preferences on the global internet. And all of this is happening against the backdrop of the enormous power that private companies wield over what content can appear on the internet's leading platforms. 

Now that the brave new world of global content regulation is here, what do we do about it? Are global takedown orders as bad as they've been assumed to be? When is it legitimate for a government to enforce its preferences on a global rather than a national basis? And where do private forms of governance, like algorithmic curation on and by social media platforms, fit into this picture?

Join our panel of experts from North America, Europe, and South Asia for an update on some of the biggest recent developments in this area and a wide-ranging discussion of how all those who care about the open, global internet should best respond to these trends.