Said/Unsaid: Exploring the Zoom Platform’s Discursive Disputes

• Autor(a) principal: Guimarães Furtado, Renato
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.58050/comunicando.v11i2.269
• topic: Discursive Disputes; Platform; Zoom; Terms of Service; Freedom of Speech; Controvérsias Discursivas; Plataforma; Zoom; Termos de Serviço; Liberdade de Expressão; Controversias Discursivas; Plataforma; Zoom; Términos del Servicio; Libertad de Expresión

Through institutional discourses and statements, companies aim to establish their digital platforms as intermediary applications, improving a variety of human activities. Nevertheless, considering that platforms have conquered a prominent place in contemporary society, they are unable to maintain a neutral stance, in regard to the political, legal and ideological dimension of their practices, norms and moderation strategies. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the controversies between what are institutionally expressed by digital platforms and the consequences, at a material level, of their governance guidelines – essentially based on specific, profit-oriented perspectives and biases, which effectively endanger freedom of speech. To reach our goals, with the aid of bibliographic review, document research and content analysis methodologies, we intend to take a closer look at Zoom’s videoconferencing platform and at the controversies and scandals centered around the company during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, when contrasting the institutional positions and the terms of service material effects, we identify what we call discursive disputes in the heart of Zoom’s platform – moments of disparity between what is communicated and what is effectively carried out in terms of content moderation, ranging from cases related to the invasion of users’ privacy to the censorship of activists.