THE «PRIVATE» CENSORSHIP OF LARGE DIGITAL CORPORATIONS AND THE EMERGING SYSTEM OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Abstract

This paper advocates an approach to private censorship carried out by social networks, based on a hybrid understanding of the legal nature of these networks. The large Internet platforms could no longer be considered as mere private companies but, in certain contexts, as a public forum. this article argues that this is the approach that has been developed in European Union law and, ultimately, in the imminent Digital Services Act.