While the instant communication that comes with the social media explosion has brought about some new problems. Defining the limit of free speech on the anonymous internet, where the worlds of public and private collide, is one of the biggest challenges that today’s lawmakers face, according to ITV Football’s Sean Martin.
As usual, where politics go sport surely follows, and the recent furore over the super injunction unceremoniously dumped the footballing world into the eye of a huge political storm. Whilst freedom of expression has been protected, and blanket censorship condemned, this hasn’t yet gone universal and similar protection has yet to be afforded to other sportsmen.
The fact that Twitter has now been banned by many sports teams is posing a real threat to the freedom of speech for players. Two of the teams from the Ryder Cup of 2010, the All Blacks world cup squad and the Leicester Tigers have already got bans in place and Alex Ferguson, who has expressed his disdain for Twitter more than once, is reported to be considering doing the same at Manchester United.
The censorship of Twitter is spreading like wildfire through sport, without any acknowledgement at all that this blatantly flouts their fundamental commitment to the freedom of speech. Freedom of expression needs reactive and not proactive censorship and should not be treat as if access to it is akin to drugs or firearms, as speech does not pose danger.