Freedom of speech in social media

Abstract Sweden has had a long tradition of freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Today the judicial area is regulated by the constitution of the press and the constitution of speech. The purpose of the two constitutions is to secure the right for every Swedish citizen to express their thoughts, opinions and feelings. The constitutions are designed to regulate the techniques with which the information is distributed and not to regulate the information in itself. This fact has caused a debate to arise on the subject whether the constitutions are still suitable to regulate the judicial area when the technical development causes the constitutions to get out of date and in need of constant updating. As a rule the usage of social media is not regulated by the constitution of speech the information distributed through these webpages can be included by the protection given by the constitution but very few of these webpages fulfill the criteria’s demanded by the constitution. The purpose of this essay is to ask the question whether the constitution of speech should be reformed to better regulate the technical development in the future. The essay examines whether a new constitution can be developed so that it no longer is tied to a certain technique and if it, in the future, should include all the information distributed through social media. It is the author´s conclusion that the constitution of freedom of speech should be concentrated on giving a special protection to professional companies’ whose occupation it is to distribute information to the public. This is the best way to preserve a regulation that is clear, consistent and easy to practice. A constitution that is given an area that is too wide to regulate will only restrain the freedom of speech and its founding principles and should therefore be avoided