Quantificação e vigilância : uma análise das implicações do exercício da livre expressão nas redes sociais

Abstract

The present paper aims to address the issue about freedom of expression, as well as its characteristics and consequences, considering that the phenomenon of free expression is absorbed by the information and communication technologies, specifically in social media. It was chosen to address the problem contemplated the by understanding the phenomenon of free expression according to the dominant technology medium, on one hand, the press, and on the other hand, the digital medium, embracing the ideas of McLuhan and Postman, where the medium or technology radically determines the way different social phenomena are understood. Based on this, the two dimensions of free expression in the era of the press were analyzed: on the negative side, theoretical references were Milton and Mill, who propose an understanding of free expression, free from restrictions and regulations, and on the positive side, Marcuse and Fish, who criticize the consequences of accepting the ideas of Milton and Mill. In accordance with this, an analysis of the Twitter (X) social network was undertaken with the aim of recognizing which of the identified dimensions of free expression was applicable. However, through the theoretical resources of Shoshana Zuboff and Melanie Swan, it was identified that instead of a positive or negative dimension, free expression on social networks leads to the instrumentalization and quantification of opinion. Therefore, in the effort to understand free expression more accurately in the digital medium, Floridi’s proposal was addressed, allowing the assertion that, regarding freedom of expression as a phenomenon of the infosphere, it is not possible to establish a fixed definition, as the informational environment is in constant transition and subject to the dynamics of evolution and entropy. In this sense, social media cannot be fully identified as a phenomenon leading to the enrichment or detriment of freedom of expression, but this ambivalence must become the subject of reflection that increasingly contributes to its resolution for the benefit and enrichment of all entities that inhabit and interact in the informational environment.