Introduction

Habermas (1991) articulated the concept of the public sphere as a space for private citizens to come together as a public to deliberate. In the age of digital connections, the Internet has been theorized as a new space for these kinds of discussions of civic importance (Papacharissi, 2004; Price, Nir, & Cappella, 2006). The accessibility and visibility of networked digital media have been considered democratizing forces that can allow even more citizens to participate in the kind of public discussion needed for a democracy (Dylko et al., 2012; Papacharissi, 2002). Online discourse has had some striking positive effects on politics across the world through the last decade, from the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 (Lotan, Graeff, Ananny, Gaffney, & Pearce, 2011; Wilson & Dunn, 2011) to #MeToo (Hawbaker, 2018; Pazzanese & Walsh, 2017). In a comparison of online comments to letters to the editor published in newspapers, McCluskey and Hmielowski (2012) found that online comments on a news story were more diverse in viewpoints and more likely to challenge institutions than conventional letters to the editor.

However, Internet discussion spaces still face the same issue that all other spaces for public discussion in the past have faced: how can—and should—these spaces be designed to meet the needs of a public sphere? Ever since the creation of online spaces for discussion, there has been controversy about the extent to which speech should be regulated and controlled (Pfaffenberger, 1996). According to a 2018 Pew poll, most US teens have experienced cyberbullying, including ridicule, threats, or false rumors (Anderson, 2018). Recent years have also seen horrific mass violence, such as the killing of Muslim minorities in Sri Lanka, as a result of misinformation and hate speech spread on online discussion spaces (Taub & Fisher, 2018).

In the face of all the potentials and dangers, what kind of speech should be allowed in online spaces, and to what end? On its face, this is a normative question for political philosophers. However, it can also be approached empirically. This article will investigate one specific comparative case of how the values-driven moderation strategies of “safe spaces” and “free speech” shape discussion in two Reddit discussion forums.