Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech

The author is Mike Masnick, who is now on the board of Bluesky, which very much is taking a protocols over platforms approach.

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This article proposes an entirely different approach—one that might seem counterintuitive but might actually provide for a workable plan that enables more free speech, while minimizing the impact of trolling, hateful speech, and large-scale disinformation efforts. As a bonus, it also might help the users of these platforms regain control of their privacy. And to top it all off, it could even provide an entirely new revenue stream for these platforms. That approach: build protocols, not platforms.

To be clear, this is an approach that would bring us back to the way the internet used to be. The early internet involved many different protocols—instructions and standards that anyone could then use to build a compatible interface. Email used SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Chat was done over IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Usenet served as a distributed discussion system using NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol). The World Wide Web itself was its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP.

In the past few decades, however, rather than building new protocols, the internet has grown up around controlled platforms that are privately owned. These can function in ways that appear similar to the earlier protocols, but they are controlled by a single entity. This has happened for a variety of reasons. Obviously, a single entity controlling a platform can then profit off of it. In addition, having a single entity can often mean that new features, upgrades, bug fixes, and the like can be rolled out much more quickly, in ways that would increase the user base

Free Speech Futures

This essay is part of the Knight First Amendment Institute’s essay series, Free Speech Futures. Authors were asked to envision new approaches to First Amendment doctrine and to online content moderation. The eight essays in the series consider the future of free speech along two dimensions. The first set proposes new interpretations and applications of the First Amendment by courts to meet 21st century pressures and challenges. The second offers new strategies and technologies to improve the quality and health of the online speech environment. The Free Speech Futures essay series was conceptualized and edited by Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, during his tenure as the Knight Institute’s Senior Visiting Research Scholar. The Knight Institute’s Research Director Katy Glenn Bass and other Institute staff provided additional editing and review. The full series is available at https://knightcolumbia.org/research/

About the Author

mike masnick is the founder and CEO of Floor64 and editor of the Techdirt blog. He is also the founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley-based Copia Institute, a think tank exploring innovative approaches to tech policy.

About the Knight First Amendment Institute

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education. Its aim is to promote a system of free expression that is open and inclusive, that broadens and elevates public discourse, and that fosters creativity, accountability, and effective