DOCSLIB.ORG

Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Faculty Articles and Papers School of Law 2021 Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context Richard A. Wilson University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute, [email protected] Molly Land University of Connecticut School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_papers Part of the First Amendment Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, Richard A. and Land, Molly, "Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context" (2021). Faculty Articles and Papers. 535. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_papers/535 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW VOLUME 52 FEBRUARY 2021 NUMBER 3 Article Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context RICHARD ASHBY WILSON & MOLLY K. LAND For all practical purposes, the policy of social media companies to suppress hate speech on their platforms means that the longstanding debate in the United States about whether to limit hate speech in the public square has been resolved in favor of vigorous regulation. Nonetheless, revisiting these debates provides insights essential for developing more empirically-based and narrowly tailored policies regarding online hate. First, a central issue in the hate speech debate is the extent to which hate speech contributes to violence. Those in favor of more robust regulation claim a connection to violence, while others dismiss these arguments as tenuous. The data generated by social media, however, now allow researchers to empirically test whether there are measurable harms resulting from hate speech. These data can assist in formulating evidence-based policies to address the most significant harms of hate speech, while avoiding overbroad regulation. Second, reexamining the U.S. debate about hate speech also reveals the serious missteps of social media policies that prohibit hate speech without regard to context. The policies that social media companies have developed define hate speech solely with respect to the content of the message. As the early advocates of limits on hate speech made clear, the meaning, force, and consequences of speech acts are deeply contextual, and it is impossible to understand the harms of hate speech without reference to political realities and power asymmetries. Regulation that is abstracted from context will inevitably be overbroad. This Article revisits these debates and considers how they map onto the platform law of content moderation, where emerging evidence indicates a correlation between hate speech online, virulent nationalism, and violence against minorities and activists. It concludes by advocating specific recommendations to bring greater consideration of context into the speech-regulation policies and procedures of social media companies. 1029 ARTICLE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1031 I. DEBATING HATE SPEECH IN THE UNITED STATES ................... 1034 A. THE CASE FOR RESTRICTING HATE SPEECH ................................ 1035 B. THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RIPOSTE ..................................... 1037 II. THE HARMS OF ONLINE HATE SPEECH...................................... 1039 III. THE PLATFORM LAW OF HATE SPEECH ................................... 1045 A. DEFINING HATE SPEECH ONLINE ................................................ 1046 B. THE LIMITS OF PLATFORM LAW ................................................. 1053 IV. TOWARDS CONTEXT-SPECIFIC CONTENT MODERATION ..... 1061 A. THE ROLE OF CONTEXT ............................................................. 1061 B. LAW WITHOUT CONTEXT ........................................................... 1063 C. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................. 1069 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 1075 Hate Speech on Social Media: Content Moderation in Context RICHARD ASHBY WILSON & MOLLY K. LAND * INTRODUCTION Hate speech and hate crimes are trending. In the past five years, there has been an upsurge in extreme nationalist and nativist political ideology in mainstream politics globally. In the United States, the President regularly mobilizes a political constituency by vilifying Mexican immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists” who “infest” America,1 and by promoting a “zero tolerance” policy at the border that punitively separates children from their parents, including persons exercising their right to apply for asylum.2 Data suggest a connection between this rise in rhetoric to increases in hate crimes in the United States.3 Similar trends are evident abroad as well. In the United Kingdom, the 2016 Brexit referendum elicited conspicuous expressions of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment and coincided with the sharpest increase in religiously and racially motivated hate crimes ever recorded in British history.4 In the United States, there has been vigorous debate on the regulation of hate speech for decades, but the dominant legal frameworks for addressing the harms in hate speech were created in a world without the internet and urgently need updating. Historically, those advocating for the suppression of hate speech concentrated their efforts on measures that * Richard Ashby Wilson is the Gladstein Chair of Human Rights and Professor of Law and Anthropology at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Molly Land is the Catherine Roraback Professor of Law and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut School of Law and Associate Director of the Human Rights Institute. We extend our thanks to Nadine Strossen for her astute comments on our arguments, and to the editors of the Connecticut Law Review for their careful feedback and editing. We are grateful to Allaina Murphy and Danielle Nadeau for research assistance. 1 Andrés Oppenheimer, Immigrant Families Don’t “Infest” America—But Trump’s Racist Rhetoric Does, MIAMI HERALD (June 20, 2018), https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news- columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article213543104.html. 2 Catherine E. Shoichet, ‘Zero Tolerance’ a Year Later: How the US Family Separations Crisis Erupted, CNN (Apr. 5, 2019), https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/04/us/immigrant-family- separations-timeline. 3 Griffin Edwards & Stephen Rushin, The Effect of President Trump’s Election on Hate Crimes 3 (Jan. 14, 2018) (unpublished manuscript), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=3102652. 4 May Bulman, Brexit Vote Sees Highest Spike in Religious and Racial Hate Crimes Ever Recorded, INDEPENDENT (July 7, 2017), https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/racist- hate-crimes-surge-to-record-high-after-brexit-vote-new-figures-reveal-a7829551.html. 1032 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW [Vol. 52:3 compelled gatekeepers, such as district attorneys, newspaper editors, publishers, or university provosts, to restrict certain classes of speech. Now, in the cacophony on social media, gatekeeping itself has been transformed.5 Governments still attempt to regulate speech through gatekeepers such as social media platforms, but the sheer volume of speech involved requires operationalizing the definition of hate speech through algorithmic processes and tens of thousands of human content moderators. Governments are no longer the primary regulators of speech.6 Their regulatory capacity has been far outstripped by some of the largest companies in the world by public stock valuation,7 which together regulate the speech of 3.7 billion active social media users.8 Facebook, which moderates the online speech of over 2.4 billion active monthly users, is the largest publisher of content in human history.9 In a reversal of the historic roles, private corporations have even become the de facto regulators of government speech, as when Facebook banned the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s military from the platform and removed over 400 other news, entertainment, and lifestyle pages linked to the military.10 For all practical purposes, the decision of social media companies to prohibit hate speech on their platforms means that the longstanding debate in the United States about whether to limit hate speech in the public square has been resolved in favor of regulation. The new realities of the internet do not mean that the prior debates on hate speech are irrelevant, however. Instead, we contend that a reexamination of the debates over hate speech that occurred in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s can help chart a course toward a more empirically-based and narrowly tailored policy regarding online hate speech. Social media policy might be informed by the terms of the U.S. hate speech debate in two vital ways. First, social media creates data that allow us to determine whether hate speech that nonetheless falls short of direct incitement can still contribute to violence. Those in favor of more robust 5 EMILY B. LAIDLAW, REGULATING SPEECH IN CYBERSPACE: GATEKEEPERS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, at xi–xii (2015) (describing gatekeeping by private companies on the internet). 6 See DAVID KAYE, SPEECH POLICE: THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE TO GOVERN THE INTERNET 112 (2019) (noting that “a few private companies” control social media). 7 See FB Facebook, Inc. Class A Common Stock, NASDAQ, https://www.nasdaq.com/market- activity/stocks/fb (last visited Jan. 14, 2020) (listing Facebook’s common stock value); GOOG Alphabet Inc. Class C Capital Stock, NASDAQ, https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/goog (last visited Jan. 14, 2020) (listing Google’s capital stock value). 8 SIMON
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, on the Continued Deterioration of the Situation in Ethiopia
    UNITED NATIONS PRESS RELEASE For immediate release Statement by Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, on the continued deterioration of the situation in Ethiopia (New York, 30 July 2021) The Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, expressed alarm at the continued deterioration of ethnic violence in Ethiopia and at the strong allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in the Tigray region as well as in other parts of the country, including in Afar, Somali, Oromo and Amhara regions. The Special Adviser also reiterated concerns expressed in her 5 February 2021 statement on the situation in the country. Since the beginning of the conflict in the Tigray region, the Special Adviser has continued to receive reports of serious human rights violations and abuses, including alleged sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers, arbitrary arrests and ethnic based targeted killings committed by all parties, which have now escalated to other parts of the country. She also deplored the erosion of rule of law and echoed the recent call by the Human Rights Council for an immediate end to the violence and human rights violations in Tigray. The Special Adviser also condemned inflammatory statements used by top political leaders and associated armed groups. The use of pejorative and dehumanizing language like “cancer”, “devil”, “weed” and “bud” to refer to the Tigray conflict is of utmost concern. Hate speech, together with its propagation through social media is part of a worrisome trend that contributes to further fuel ethnic tensions in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Looking for Podcast Suggestions? We’Ve Got You Covered
    Looking for podcast suggestions? We’ve got you covered. We asked Loomis faculty members to share their podcast playlists with us, and they offered a variety of suggestions as wide-ranging as their areas of personal interest and professional expertise. Here’s a collection of 85 of these free, downloadable audio shows for you to try, listed alphabetically with their “recommenders” listed below each entry: 30 for 30 You may be familiar with ESPN’s 30 for 30 series of award-winning sports documentaries on television. The podcasts of the same name are audio documentaries on similarly compelling subjects. Recent podcasts have looked at the man behind the Bikram Yoga fitness craze, racial activism by professional athletes, the origins of the hugely profitable Ultimate Fighting Championship, and the lasting legacy of the John Madden Football video game. Recommended by Elliott: “I love how it involves the culture of sports. You get an inner look on a sports story or event that you never really knew about. Brings real life and sports together in a fantastic way.” 99% Invisible From the podcast website: “Ever wonder how inflatable men came to be regular fixtures at used car lots? Curious about the origin of the fortune cookie? Want to know why Sigmund Freud opted for a couch over an armchair? 99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.” Recommended by Scott ABCA Calls from the Clubhouse Interviews with coaches in the American Baseball Coaches Association Recommended by Donnie, who is head coach of varsity baseball and says the podcast covers “all aspects of baseball, culture, techniques, practices, strategy, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook
    The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook All questions and answers The Representative on Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Freedom of the Media The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media wishes to thank the Governments of France, Germany and Ireland for their generous support to this publication. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Robert Pinker, Peter Stuber and the AIPCE members for their invaluable contributions to this project. The views expressed by the authors in this publication are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Published by Miklós Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Edited by Adeline Hulin and Jon Smith © 2008 Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Wallnerstrasse 6 A-1010 Vienna, Austria Tel.: +43-1 514 36 68 00 Fax: +43-1 514 36 6802 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.osce.org/fom Design & Layout: Phoenix Design Aid, Denmark ISBN 3-9501995-7-2 The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook All questions and answers The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklós Haraszti Vienna 2008 CONTENTS Contents 7 Miklós Haraszti Foreword 9 I. The merits of media self-regulation Balancing rights and responsibilities By Miklós Haraszti 10 1. The nature of media self-regulation 13 2. Media self-regulation versus regulating the media 18 3. The promotion of mutual respect and cultural understanding 21 II. Setting up a journalistic code of ethics The core of media self-regulation By Yavuz Baydar 22 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554
    Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 April 6, 2020 DA 20-385 Jessica J. González Gaurav Laroia Free Press 1025 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1110 Washington, D.C. 20036 Re: Free Press Emergency Petition for Inquiry Into Broadcast of False Information on COVID-19 Dear Counsel: Free Press has filed, under section 1.41 of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules,1 an emergency petition requesting an investigation into broadcasters that have aired the President of the United States’ statements and press conferences regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and related commentary by other on-air personalities. The Petition claims that the President and various commentators have made false statements regarding COVID-19, which Commission licensees have broadcast to the public, and which allegedly have caused or will cause substantial public harm.2 Free Press asks the Commission, under its section 309 public interest authority3 and its rules prohibiting broadcast hoaxes,4 to investigate these broadcasts and adopt emergency enforcement guidance “recommending that broadcasters prominently disclose when information they air is false or scientifically suspect.”5 We deny Free Press’s petition. For the reasons explained below, the Petition misconstrues the Commission’s rules and seeks remedies that would dangerously curtail the freedom of the press embodied in the First Amendment. Free Press, an organization purportedly dedicated to empowering diverse journalistic voices, demands the Commission impose significant burdens on broadcasters that are attempting to cover a rapidly evolving international pandemic in real time and punish those that, in its view, have been insufficiently critical of statements made by the President and others.
    [Show full text]
  • Cancel Culture: Posthuman Hauntologies in Digital Rhetoric and the Latent Values of Virtual Community Networks
    CANCEL CULTURE: POSTHUMAN HAUNTOLOGIES IN DIGITAL RHETORIC AND THE LATENT VALUES OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITY NETWORKS By Austin Michael Hooks Heather Palmer Rik Hunter Associate Professor of English Associate Professor of English (Chair) (Committee Member) Matthew Guy Associate Professor of English (Committee Member) CANCEL CULTURE: POSTHUMAN HAUNTOLOGIES IN DIGITAL RHETORIC AND THE LATENT VALUES OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITY NETWORKS By Austin Michael Hooks A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of English The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chattanooga, Tennessee August 2020 ii Copyright © 2020 By Austin Michael Hooks All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT This study explores how modern epideictic practices enact latent community values by analyzing modern call-out culture, a form of public shaming that aims to hold individuals responsible for perceived politically incorrect behavior via social media, and cancel culture, a boycott of such behavior and a variant of call-out culture. As a result, this thesis is mainly concerned with the capacity of words, iterated within the archive of social media, to haunt us— both culturally and informatically. Through hauntology, this study hopes to understand a modern discourse community that is bound by an epideictic framework that specializes in the deconstruction of the individual’s ethos via the constant demonization and incitement of past, current, and possible social media expressions. The primary goal of this study is to understand how these practices function within a capitalistic framework and mirror the performativity of capital by reducing affective human interactions to that of a transaction.
    [Show full text]
  • Free, Hateful, and Posted: Rethinking First Amendment Protection of Hate Speech in a Social Media World
    Boston College Law Review Volume 60 Issue 7 Article 6 10-30-2019 Free, Hateful, and Posted: Rethinking First Amendment Protection of Hate Speech in a Social Media World Lauren E. Beausoleil Boston College Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the First Amendment Commons, and the Internet Law Commons Recommended Citation Lauren E. Beausoleil, Free, Hateful, and Posted: Rethinking First Amendment Protection of Hate Speech in a Social Media World, 60 B.C.L. Rev. 2100 (2019), https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol60/iss7/6 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FREE, HATEFUL, AND POSTED: RETHINKING FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTION OF HATE SPEECH IN A SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD Abstract: Speech is meant to be heard, and social media allows for exaggeration of that fact by providing a powerful means of dissemination of speech while also dis- torting one’s perception of the reach and acceptance of that speech. Engagement in online “hate speech” can interact with the unique characteristics of the Internet to influence users’ psychological processing in ways that promote violence and rein- force hateful sentiments. Because hate speech does not squarely fall within any of the categories excluded from First Amendment protection, the United States’ stance on hate speech is unique in that it protects it.
    [Show full text]
  • Brave New World
    BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) Chapter One A SQUAT grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main en- trance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDEN- TITY, STABILITY. The enormous room on the ground floor faced towards the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose- flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porce- lain of a laboratory. Wintriness responded to wintriness. The overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse- coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost. Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich and living substance, lying along the polished tubes like butter, streak after luscious streak in long recession down the work tables. "And this," said the Director opening the door, "is the Fertilizing Room." Bent over their instruments, three hundred Fertilizers were plunged, as the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning entered the room, in the scarcely breathing silence, the absent-minded, soliloquizing hum or whistle, of absorbed concentration. A troop of newly arrived students, very young, pink and callow, followed nervously, rather abjectly, at the Director's heels. Each of them carried a notebook, in which, whenever the great man spoke, he desperately scribbled. Straight from the horse's mouth. It was a rare privilege.
    [Show full text]
  • Cyberbullying: a Narrative Review Tiffany Field* ISSN University of Miami/Miller School of Medicine, Fielding Graduate University, Miami, USA 2639-9938
    Open Access Journal of Addiction Therapy and Research Review Article Cyberbullying: A narrative review Tiffany Field* ISSN University of Miami/Miller School of Medicine, Fielding Graduate University, Miami, USA 2639-9938 *Address for Correspondence: Tiffany Field, Abstract University of Miami/Miller School of Medicine, Fielding Graduate University, Miami, FL, 33101, A literature search was conducted using PubMed and PsycINFO to locate cyberbullying USA, Email: tfi [email protected] research that was published during the last 4 years. In this narrative review, cyberbullying Submitted: 04 August 2018 research is briefl y summarized and critiqued. The review is focused on the varying defi nitions and Approved: 20 August 2018 characteristics of cyberbullies, victims and bystanders. Highly variable prevalence rates have been Published: 21 August 2018 reported for cyberbullies, victims and bystanders as a function of age, gender, country, size of the social network and socioeconomic factors. In addition, the effects of cyberbullying are reviewed Copyright: 2018 Field T. This is an open including the frequent suicide attempts along with risk factors/predictors of cyberbullying which access article distributed under the Creative include previous cyberbullying, excessive internet use and lack of empathy, anger, narcissism and Commons Attribution License, which permits authoritarian/permissive parenting. To refl ect the recent literature, special attention is given to the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction studies on victims of bullying. Research on cyberbullies and on prevention/intervention programs in any medium, provided the original work is for bullying is extremely limited despite the increasing prevalence of bullying and the rapidly properly cited accumulating literature. Methodological limitations include the primary focus on the prevalence of bullying and on the victims of bullying.
    [Show full text]
  • Reporting Facts: Free from Fear Or Favour
    Reporting Facts: Free from Fear or Favour PREVIEW OF IN FOCUS REPORT ON WORLD TRENDS IN FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND MEDIA DEVELOPMENT INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLAY AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN SOCIETIES. They make a vital contribution to achieving sustainable development – including, topically, Sustainable Development Goal 3 that calls for healthy lives and promoting well-being for all. In the context of COVID-19, this is more important than ever. Journalists need editorial independence in order to be professional, ethical and serve the public interest. But today, journalism is under increased threat as a result of public and private sector influence that endangers editorial independence. All over the world, journalists are struggling to stave off pressures and attacks from both external actors and decision-making systems or individuals in their own outlets. By far, the greatest menace to editorial independence in a growing number of countries across the world is media capture, a form of media control that is achieved through systematic steps by governments and powerful interest groups. This capture is through taking over and abusing: • regulatory mechanisms governing the media, • state-owned or state-controlled media operations, • public funds used to finance journalism, and • ownership of privately held news outlets. Such overpowering control of media leads to a shrinking of journalistic autonomy and contaminates the integrity of the news that is available to the public. However, there is push-back, and even more can be done to support editorial independence
    [Show full text]
  • S.C.R.A.M. Gazette
    MARCH EDITION Chief of Police Dennis J. Mc Enerney 2017—Volume 4, Issue 3 S.c.r.a.m. gazette FBI, Sheriff's Office warn of scam artists who take aim at lonely hearts DOWNTOWN — The FBI is warning of and report that they have sent thousands of "romance scams" that can cost victims dollars to someone they met online,” Croon thousands of dollars for Valentine's Day said. “And [they] have never even met that weekend. person, thinking they were in a relationship with that person.” A romance scam typically starts on a dating or social media website, said FBI spokesman If you meet someone online and it seems "too Garrett Croon. A victim will talk to someone good to be true" and every effort you make to online for weeks or months and develop a meet that person fails, "watch out," Croon relationship with them, and the other per- Croon said. warned. Scammers might send photos from son sometimes even sends gifts like flowers. magazines and claim the photo is of them, say Victims can be bilked for hundreds or thou- they're in love with the victim or claim to be The victim and the other person are never sands of dollars this way, and Croon said the unable to meet because they're a U.S. citizen able to meet, with the scammer saying they most common victims are women who are 40 who is traveling or working out of the coun- live or work out of the country or canceling -60 years old who might be widowed, di- try, Croon said.
    [Show full text]
  • M&A @ Facebook: Strategy, Themes and Drivers
    A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Master Degree in Finance from NOVA – School of Business and Economics M&A @ FACEBOOK: STRATEGY, THEMES AND DRIVERS TOMÁS BRANCO GONÇALVES STUDENT NUMBER 3200 A Project carried out on the Masters in Finance Program, under the supervision of: Professor Pedro Carvalho January 2018 Abstract Most deals are motivated by the recognition of a strategic threat or opportunity in the firm’s competitive arena. These deals seek to improve the firm’s competitive position or even obtain resources and new capabilities that are vital to future prosperity, and improve the firm’s agility. The purpose of this work project is to make an analysis on Facebook’s acquisitions’ strategy going through the key acquisitions in the company’s history. More than understanding the economics of its most relevant acquisitions, the main research is aimed at understanding the strategic view and key drivers behind them, and trying to set a pattern through hypotheses testing, always bearing in mind the following question: Why does Facebook acquire emerging companies instead of replicating their key success factors? Keywords Facebook; Acquisitions; Strategy; M&A Drivers “The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook 2 Literature Review M&A activity has had peaks throughout the course of history and different key industry-related drivers triggered that same activity (Sudarsanam, 2003). Historically, the appearance of the first mergers and acquisitions coincides with the existence of the first companies and, since then, in the US market, there have been five major waves of M&A activity (as summarized by T.J.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Brave New World: the Correlation of Social Order and the Process Of
    Brave New World: The Correlation of Social Order and the Process of Literary Translation by Maria Reinhard A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in German Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2008 ! Maria Reinhard 2008 Author's Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This comparative analysis of four different German-language versions of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) shows the correlation between political and socio- cultural circumstances, as well as ideological differences, and translations of the novel. The first German translation was created by Herberth E. Herlitschka in 1932, entitled Welt – Wohin? Two further versions of it were released in 1950 and 1981. In 1978, the East German publisher Das Neue Berlin published a new translation created by Eva Walch, entitled Schöne neue Welt. My thesis focuses on the first translations by both Herlitschka and Walch, but takes into account the others as well. The methodological basis is Heidemarie Salevsky’s tripartite model. With its focus on author and work, commissioning institution and translator, it was developed as a tool to determine the factors influencing the process of literary translation. Within this framework, the translations are contextualized within the cultural and political circumstances of the Weimar and German Democratic Republics, including an historical overview of the two main publishers, Insel and Das Neue Berlin.
    [Show full text]