The Privatized Public Sphere
Algorithmic Curation, Digital Platforms, and the Constitutional Limits of Freedom of Expression on the Internet
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/publicum.2025.95221Keywords:
algorithmic curation, freedom of expression, private censorship, digital platforms, chilling effectAbstract
The article examines how algorithmic curation carried out by digital platforms operates as a contemporary mechanism of private censorship, capable of unconstitutionally restricting freedom of expression. It analyzes how content moderation, user profiling, chilling effects, and cancel culture structure a privatized and opaque digital public sphere in which large technology corporations wield significant regulatory power. The article argues that algorithms, guided by economic, moral, and political interests, silently determine the circulation and visibility of ideas without minimum procedural safeguards, thereby producing asymmetries between users and platforms and encouraging self-censorship. It concludes that algorithmic curation, by shaping the architecture of the digital public space, challenges the constitutional model for protecting freedom of expression and calls for new forms of regulation, transparency, and democratic oversight of platform power.
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