The Multifaceted Regulation of Online Hate Speech

Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 481/2026 Forthcoming in Eric Heinze, Natalie Alkiviadou, Tom Herrenberg, Sejal Parmar and Ioanna Tourkochoriti (eds), The Oxford Handbook on Hate Speech (Oxford University Press, 2026). 17 Pages Posted: 12 Jan 2026 Queen Mary University of London, School of Law Date Written: January 10, 2026 Arguments for and against hate speech bans have raged for many years. In the early days of cyberspace, it might at first have seemed that protagonists on both sides could adopt what is described here as parallel models of regulation, applying the same regulatory policies that they had already adopted for traditional, offline speech contexts. Accordingly, those who had long endorsed bans for offline speech would advocate bans for online speech, and those who had long opposed bans offline would oppose them online. Yet the internet has forced both sides to rethink their assumptions. Opponents of bans can no longer cast doubt on causal links between abstract ideas and real-world harms; and advocates of bans can no longer claim that bans represent only occasional and peripheral incursions into free speech. For the foreseeable future, given that these two realisations push in opposite directions, our regulatory schemes will simultaneously over-and under-regulate online speech. The best that can be achieved will be to reduce the greatest risks at both ends through what is described here as a multifaceted regulatory model. Most importantly, democratic controls can legitimately be imposed on electronic communications without penalties having to be imposed on individual speakers. Keywords: counter-speech, information technologies, online hate speech, regulation of cyberspace, social media platforms Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London, WC2A 3JB United Kingdom Queen Mary Law Research Paper Series Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic U.S. Constitutional Law: Rights & Liberties eJournal Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournal Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic Law & Society: Public Law - Constitutional Law eJournal Subscribe to this free journal for more curated articles on this topic Political Institutions: Constitutions eJournal Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic