Google’s gatekeepers

The Takeaway

You might think that free speech is controlled by international laws, but law professor Jeffrey Rosen says you’re wrong.
Jeffrey Rosen writes about "Google’s gatekeepers" in a piece for this weekend’s "New York Times" magazine, where he is a frequent contributor.

He says free speech — at least, online — is now controlled by Nicole Wong, known within the halls of Google as "The Decider." Wong controls what video stays on YouTube and which links are picked up by the Google search engine.

According to Rosen: "If Google does not take down links or videos that are illegal in a particular country then their employees can be arrested on the ground and they can be held criminally liable."

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