Break Glass: Structural Safeguards for Social Media

Introduction

As of early 2025, the challenges of social media governance are back in the headlines. Some countries are embracing an ‘anything goes’ approach, emphasizing freedom of speech and the absence of censorship. Other countries are doubling down on protections to minimize online harm and offensive content. While each country sorts out its own path for the near future, the importance of this decision is not in any doubt. Social media channels are a hugely powerful force driving many societal outcomes, which we have witnessed repeatedly over the past decade. Social media has been instrumental in connecting family and friends, sharing art, rescuing lost loved ones, forming new high-growth businesses, informing people, globalizing culture, enabling bullying of children, deepening partisan divides, influencing electoral outcomes, causing riots, toppling governments, enabling criminals and fomenting genocide. It’s a mixed record, to say the least.