Free speech

Q. As you may be aware, there has been debate about whether or not social media platforms should be able to ban pages promoting views some people describe as hate speech.  Most recently, this has involved so-called Alt-Right speakers being banned from Facebook, Youtube, Apple and Spotify.  Which of the following is closer to your view?

	Total		Vote Labor	Vote Lib/Nat	Vote Greens	Vote other
Social media platforms should have to allow such people even if they don’t like what those people are saying, because those people have a right to free speech	32%		31%	35%	29%	40%
An individual’s right to free speech doesn’t mean that social media sites must provide those individuals a platform to speak from.	48%		47%	49%	61%	49%
Don’t know	20%		23%	16%	10%	11%

32% agreed more with the statement that “social media platforms should have to allow such people . . . have a right to free speech”. Those most likely to support this statement were men (37%), aged under 35 (43%) and other party voters (40%).

Nearly half (48%) agreed more with the statement that the “right to free speech doesn’t mean that social media sites must provide . . . a platform”. Those most likely to support this statement were aged 55+ (57%) and Greens voters (61%).