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Terms of service and bills of rights: new mechanisms of constitutionalisation in the social media environment?

Celeste, Edoardo (2019) Terms of service and bills of rights: new mechanisms of constitutionalisation in the social media environment? International Review of Law, Computers and Technology, 33 (2). pp. 122-138. ISSN 1360-0869

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Abstract

From a cursory look at the terms of service of the main social networking websites, it is immediately possible to detect that Facebook’s show a peculiar configuration. Although they represent a mere contract between private parties, these terms adopt the traditional jargon of constitutional texts and articulate their contents in terms of rights, principles and duties. This curious pairing between norms regulating social media and the constitutional sphere is also apparent in a series of non-binding documents that are unequivocally named ‘bill of rights’ and seek to articulate a set of principles to protect social media users. This paper examines whether the emergence of a constitutional tone in this limited number of texts could be related to the effective, or aspirational, constitutional function that these documents exercise. The identification of a series of significant shortcomings will lead to exclude that social media’s terms of service and bills of rights of social media users currently play a constitutionalising role. Nevertheless, the possibility to theoretically justify the use of these documents as mechanisms of constitutionalisation in the social media environment will be adduced as an evidence of the potential constitutional aspirations of these texts.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:digital constitutionalism; Internet bills of rights; Social media’s terms of service
Subjects:Social Sciences > Law
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
Official URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2018.1475898
Copyright Information:© 2019 Taylor & Francis
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship scheme, Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin
ID Code:24696
Deposited On:27 Aug 2020 18:00 by Vidatum Academic . Last Modified 27 Aug 2020 18:00

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