The U.S. and foreign governments are reportedly using automated content detection tools to monitor online expression and take action against the speakers with whom they disagree. In the United States, non-citizens — including permanent residents — are being whisked to distant detention facilities and refused immigration benefits based on their viewpoints. To make matters worse, the tools used to find disfavored content of these speakers are often inaccurate. 

This session will show how governments’ use of social media monitoring to crush dissent and discourage advocacy is eroding free expression in the U.S. and around the world. It will explore the tools governments use to engage in social media monitoring and the online speech and privacy problems that flaws in these tools exacerbate.