A thumb on the scale: measures short of a prohibition to combat hate speech

Journal article

Abstract:: While debates on hate speech often focus on the case for banning certain types of expression, this article will focus on less restrictive alternatives. The article will consider the denial of a benefit normally granted to speakers, media regulations and government sponsored speech to counter messages of hate. Such measures, it is argued, are more proportionate than an outright ban and do not exclude any particular viewpoints from political debate. However, such measures also depart from expectations of even-handedness from public bodies in relation to political viewpoints. With these factors in mind, the discussion explores the potential for some types of speech to occupy a grey area, in which messages of hate or extremism do not meet the threshold for prohibition but are still subject to viewpoint-based treatment that would not normally be compatible with freedom of expression.

Files:: Rowbottom_2022_A_thumb_on.pdf

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Copyright holder:: Jacob Rowbottom
Rights statement:: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

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