Politiquette: Liberalism, identity, and free speech on AI-powered digital social media - Ethics and Information Technology
How can liberal thinking deal with identity and recognition matters in politics? This long-standing question in political philosophy has gained new relevance and urgency in the face of issues concerning offense and censorship in digital social media, especially in the light of the use of AI. Typically, there are two competing views on this issue: a classical liberal one, according to which identity has no place in politics and free speech is paramount, and the more recent view that personal and group identity and recognition should be important, if not central, in liberal politics (for example when it comes to issues of justice) and that free speech should be regulated accordingly, for instance to avoid offense and create safe online spaces. The latter view has become increasingly popular among left liberals, but also stretches or, according to some, transgresses, the boundaries of liberalism. Usually, a mix of both positions is used to justify current digital tech policy. This paper proposes a third position, which is not just a mix of both positions but which is conceptually more innovative: making a distinction between politics and politiquette, which in analogy to etiquette is about “soft” values and norms such as respect, moderation, openness, and tolerance as opposed to “hard” political rights and liberal political principles such as freedom and justice, it argues that identity and recognition claims have a place in politiquette (next to the private sphere) and that politiquette helps to create the conditions for politics but is not itself political. Whatever other “hard” reasons there may be to create such conditions, politiquette is one sufficient reason. In this way, the paper attempts to carve out a conceptual space for identity and recognition, while retaining a liberal position. After outlining the position, a discussion of potential objections enables further clarification and refinement of the position as well as more engagement with relevant contemporary work.
