The fact that content on Zoom will soon have to be regulated more strongly is inevitable due to the growing popularity of the video conferencing platform, say Martin Fertmann and PD Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann. In their article on the HBI’s Media Research Blog, they write about why it is not a wise idea for the platform operator Zoom to get involved in content moderation itself.
Abstract
It’s everyone’s favorite online video communication tool these days. We cannot count the times we attended Zoom-based workshops in the last months, organized Zoom-based lectures or spoke at Zoom-based events. Apart from latent data protection concerns (taken seriously in Berlin, less seriously in Baden-Württemberg), which is usually tries to allay by pointing to its GDPR compliance, Zoom has managed to weather the current discussion on (and growing dissatisfaction with) private content governance rather well – cases when it bowed to Chinese pressure to close down accounts of US-based Zoom meetings related to the Tiananmen massacre notwithstanding.
While Facebook and Twitter, and intermittently TikTok, have been heavily criticized for their approach to fighting online hate speech, Covid-19-related disinformation and untruth about elections, Zoom has escaped scrutiny. It is, after all, not a social network. This is true, but perhaps this honeymoon is over.
Fertmann, M.; Kettmann, M. C. (2020): Who is Zoom to Judge? In: Media Research Blog: https://leibniz-hbi.de/de/blog/who-is-zoom-to-judge (30.09.2020)