Freedom of speech and how we treat each other online

​The last few weeks in US politics and the tech space have been tumultuous. There was the violent protest on Capitol Hill that led to the deaths of five people, Trump being banned from Twitter, and the free speech-focused social network Parler being kicked off all major Internet platforms.

​The discussion around free speech vs public safety has been raging for years, but this might finally be a tipping point for getting to a global consensus on what we all value as human beings in how we communicate with each other.



​At Sphere, we believe the free speech argument is a red herring. The real issue and opportunity we have to be better is how we treat each other online. That applies to how to we run and participate in our own communities day to day, but also how we participate in broader global communities like Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.

​We want to invite people to share their thoughts and feelings on recent events, talk about what we think the issues are and the challenges we face in resolving them.

​The solutions are never easy, but creating them starts with agreeing on the problem. And if we’re going to one day solve this, we have to do it together and make sure everyone feels heard and understood.

​To that end, we welcome anyone with a perspective they’d like to share to come and do just that. Equally, feel free to just come and listen too. The goal is to hear different perspectives and refine our collective understanding of the issues.

​Heads-up that we also plan to record the event and leverage quotes from people on social media etc, but we’ll always check with people before sharing specific things they’ve said. If anyone doesn’t want to be recorded, feel free to turn your camera off or email me (jeremy@sphere.me) if you’d like to discuss!

​Finally, there's a discussion thread here on our forum for the event. Free to start or continue the conversation on there.