{"id":45749,"date":"2026-03-26T15:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=45749"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:18:20","slug":"communication-law-scholar-urges-a-reconsideration-of-online-speech","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/communication-law-scholar-urges-a-reconsideration-of-online-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Communication Law Scholar Urges a Reconsideration of Online Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin bu-blocks-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-wider has-box has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1865\" height=\"2109\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1.jpg 1865w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-562x636.jpg 562w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-906x1024.jpg 906w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-768x868.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-1358x1536.jpg 1358w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-1811x2048.jpg 1811w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2025\/09\/Weiland-Morgan-1-884x1000.jpg 884w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1865px) 100vw, 1865px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Communication Law Scholar Urges a Reconsideration of Online Speech<\/strong>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Morgan Weiland wants to prevent making the same deregulatory mistakes with AI as we made with social media<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-categories\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/journalism\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJournalism\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">March 26, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/authors\/mike-de-socio\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMike De Socio\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div style=\"display:none;\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-inner js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t<h4>Share<\/h4>\n\t\t<p class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-title\">Communication Law Scholar Urges a Reconsideration of Online Speech<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-link\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/communication-law-scholar-urges-a-reconsideration-of-online-speech\/\" readonly>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<label>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Copy URL:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Copy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/label>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">The way we conceptualize the internet and social media\u2014as a sort of \u201cprinting press\u201d protected by the First Amendment\u2014is widely taken for granted, like an obvious and inevitable legal framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the way <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/profile\/morgan-weiland\/\">Morgan Weiland<\/a> sees it, it didn\u2019t have to be this way. And perhaps more to the point, she argues that it shouldn\u2019t be; the metaphor of the printing press led to a largely deregulated internet that continues to pose risks to democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe came to take for granted that private platforms like Meta and X should dictate the terms of public speech. And that arrangement is bad for democratic discourse,\u201d says Weiland, the BU College of Communication\u2019s newly-hired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2025\/bu-junior-faculty-career-development-professors\/\">Moorman-Simon Interdisciplinary Career Development Assistant Professor<\/a> of Communication Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One need not look far to see the negative consequences of an internet where a handful of tech billionaires control the public square, as it were. To take just one example: In the weeks before President Donald Trump took office for the second time, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7205332\/meta-fact-checking-community-notes\/\">announced<\/a> that his platforms would sunset their fact-checking operation, allowing misinformation to run wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-yellow-background-left\"><p>What does the First Amendment mean when it says \u2018the press?\u2019 Who are we talking about? And who should we be talking about?<\/p><cite>\u2014Morgan Weiland<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In her work, Weiland zooms out from these discrete incidents to interrogate the larger systems that enable them. \u201cWe should be asking how and why someone like Mark Zuckerberg should even be in this position in the first place. We should be asking: why are we even here?\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re just missing the mark when we\u2019re obsessively focused on little content moderation questions. That\u2019s like missing the forest for the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Redefining the Press<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiland came to BU from Stanford University, where she had developed the first joint degree program between the communication department and the law school there. Fittingly, in addition to her professorship at COM, she holds a courtesy appointment at the BU School of Law. Since arriving at BU in July 2025, she has hit the ground running as she continues to investigate internet regulation and public speech.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiland\u2019s interest in democratic discourse dates back to her undergraduate days, when she was focused on how the institutional media failed in its coverage of the war in Iraq. She found herself drawn to issues of media accountability in graduate school. \u201cI was really interested in how the practice of journalism was changing. Who counted as a journalist was radically up for grabs. The question was: \u2018You\u2019re on Twitter and you\u2019re a blogger. Are you a journalist?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWhat do these changes mean for the quality of democratic discourse, which matters for the health of our overall democracy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-yellow-background-left\"><p>We came to take for granted that private platforms like Meta and X should dictate the terms of public speech. And that arrangement is bad for democratic discourse.<\/p><cite>\u2014Morgan Weiland<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>She eventually realized these questions were not only the domain of communication scholars, but also of legal experts. \u201cWe had to start asking legal questions like, what does the First Amendment mean when it says \u2018the press?\u2019 Who are we talking about? And who should we be talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiland created the space to explore these issues in the JD\u2013PhD program she developed at Stanford. She came to see the existing legal framework for the internet, problematic as it may be, as \u201cthe water in which we swim,\u201d a substance that is difficult to recognize or look beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>A Powerful Metaphor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiland\u2019s dissertation\u2014\u201cMaking Internet Law: How Cyberspace Was Socially Constructed as a First Amendment Speech System\u201d\u2014gives shape and urgency to this history.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She is developing the dissertation into a book and says it\u2019s a cautionary tale about how a network of activists, lawyers and policymakers made the internet into a \u201cspeech technology,\u201d therefore naturalizing the power of private social media platforms over public discourse. It\u2019s a series of decisions that Weiland believes we risk making again today with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The story, as Weiland\u2019s research tells it, stretches back to the 1940s, the moment when a scholar seeded the idea that the internet should be seen as a speech system. That metaphor, adopted by activists in the 1990s, became crystallized as law in a landmark Supreme Court decision, <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/521\/844\/\"><em>Reno v. ACLU<\/em><\/a>, which gave internet speech the same level of First Amendment protection as printed media (rather than, say, broadcast media, which is subject to stricter regulations).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weiland argues that this created a regulatory vacuum for online speech\u2014one that allowed social media companies to decide the architecture for public speech governance. In the current moment, where generative AI is developing rapidly, Weiland worries that we risk making a similar mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have a path dependency when it comes to thinking about technology and technology law, that deregulation is the default,\u201d she says. \u201cThat is a presumption that didn\u2019t necessarily exist 30 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, because this legal framework for the internet was socially constructed, Weiland sees potential for us to construct a different one for AI. \u201cWe can make other technology laws differently. We could make it something pro-social. We could build accountability into the framework,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end-of-article\">And it\u2019s not only lawyers who have the power to shape this next wave of technology regulation. The metaphor of the internet as a printing press, powerful as it was, shows that communicators also hold a lot of power. \u201cI say this to my students in media law and policy at BU. I tell them, if you\u2019re going to go and be an advertising executive, or you\u2019re going to work at a PR firm, or say you work for an AI company: You could have just as much power as a lawmaker,\u201d she says. That is, the power to shape AI regulation may lie less in the hands of policy wonks, but, as with the internet, those who coin the technology&#8217;s defining metaphor.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The way we conceptualize the internet and social media\u2014as a sort of \u201cprinting press\u201d protected by the First Amendment\u2014is widely&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25826,"featured_media":45770,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1826,1827],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25826"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45771,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45749\/revisions\/45771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45749"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=45749"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=45749"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=45749"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=45749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}