Under Secretary of State Sarah B. Rogers on dismantling the "Censorship Industrial Complex"
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What is the role of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy?
David and I are staying in a 300-year-old house. And we've both smashed our head on the beams twice already. But this is our first Davos, David. It's our first Davos. We've been here for 24 hours. And any first impressions here?
It's interesting. You know, we're staying very far away. Yeah. Apparently they didn't want you to be part of this.
They didn't want me too close.
Yeah. But we finally got you an invitation.
How do EU regulations impact free speech in the US?
Your invitation did not get lost in the mail.
My invitation didn't get lost in the mail this time.
For those of you who watch the pod, you know what I'm talking about.
Inside joke.
Yes.
But it's great to be here and great to be here at USA House. Thanks to all the sponsors and really delighted for our first guest for the pod. Sarah Rogers is the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy at the State Department. For members here who don't know this position or what you've been charged with or what you've decided to work on, I'm curious about that.
What is the significance of the Digital Services Act?
Do they tell you what to do or do you come up with your own mandate? But yeah, tell us everything about what you're doing.
long-time listener, first-time guest, and thank you to both of us. Thank you from all of us at America House for joining us here. So I am the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy. And when I got this nomination, my friends and family all congratulated me and then kind of furtively said, what is that? So diplomacy traditionally concerns the relationship between the American government and foreign governments. Two ambassadors shake hands, make a deal, solve a war. But public diplomacy is different. Public diplomacy addresses the relationship between the American government and foreign publics. And this has become a very important undersecretariat with the rise of the internet and then during the Biden administration especially, these mushrooming concerns about so-called disinformation and what do we do when there are allegedly malign influences on the public view of America,
public's intersection with American interests.
How is the concept of the 'Censorship Industrial Complex' defined?
How do we interact with the internet and the information ecosystem? That is part of my portfolio. I also oversee other soft power activities, including our educational and cultural and sports diplomacy. So I am privileged to play a role in the World Cup this summer and the LA Olympics coming up, and the Fulbright program and others like it. So it's a great job.
You seem particularly focused on... freedom of speech and a little bit of tension between our standards and the companies in America, which have made the move to being strongly freedom of speech, something that kind of got lost in our industry for a couple of years in technology, but has now made, I think, some significant progress on, does seem like some folks in Europe don't share our love of freedom of speech. Maybe you could explain to us what the tension is today, and what some of the regulations are that have been put in place in Europe.
Sure, absolutely. So the two main regulations that I've interfaced with since taking office, and part of this is just a product of
What are the implications of AI deepfakes on freedom of speech?
My first official trip was to Europe, and while I was in Europe, a large fine came down on an American platform, X, under the Digital Services Act, which I'll get into in a moment. So Europe, especially since the Second World War, but I think really since the American founding and our codification of the First Amendment, you know, America has taken a much stronger approach on free speech than even most of the West. And with the rise of the Internet and all communication or a lot of communication becoming transnational, we see these new technocratic regulatory frameworks in Europe bumping up against the commitments to free speech in the United States. And Jason makes an important observation that for a while, some of these large American technology platforms were more inclined to moderate or to censor, kind of in conformity with some prevailing norms and concerns in the United States.
But I think In the United States, we've shifted back toward a less censorious approach and so have these platforms.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the role of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy?
0:00–0:27
2
How do EU regulations impact free speech in the US?
0:27–0:59
3
What is the significance of the Digital Services Act?
0:59–2:01
4
How is the concept of the 'Censorship Industrial Complex' defined?
2:01–3:05
5
What are the implications of AI deepfakes on freedom of speech?
3:05–4:56
6
How does censorship relate to mass migration policies?
4:56–5:41
7
What are the consequences of censorship on American companies abroad?
5:41–6:58
8
How can individuals protect their free speech rights?
6:58–44:58
Speakers
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