Big Tech Platforms, Democracy and the Law: Global Problems, Legal Perspectives and the Mexican Experience

Abstract

How do Big Tech platforms affect the exercise of fundamental rights? What can the States do, in the context of their sovereignty, to moderate these actors’ powers? What has been explored in the context of Mexico? This article discusses how Big Tech platforms, such as Facebook and Google, may impact our collective lives and democracy. It highlights the legal implications of access to information and freedom of expression. This research provides an overall legal framework on this issue, to later place in context the Mexican draft bill introduced in 2021 to regulate platforms’ content moderation practices, analyzing its flaws and areas of improvement, and suggesting specific elements for further legal discussion to prevent abuse of power from these companies within the Latin American and Mexican context. A comparative legal methodology is used, resorting to elements of American and European Law, to later discuss the Mexican legal framework.