This year’s Thornely Society AGM, taking place on Thursday 27 October will now be accessible online. The meeting will commence at 5.45pm and all members of the Thornely Society are entitled to participate and all Thornely Society Associate Members are welcome to attend as observers.
The Thornely Society was established to honour the memory of John Thornely, the College’s first Fellow in Law (1948-2000) and supports many aspects of Law at Sidney. It also provides an opportunity for Sidney alumni who read Law at Cambridge or have since qualified as lawyers to maintain and develop their links with each other and the College.
Following the AGM, Dr Stefan Theil, Thornely Fellow will deliver his talk titled 'Private Censorship and Structural Dominance'. Alex Jones is a far-right radio show host and conspiracy theorist who has been banned from virtually all mainstream social media platforms. To his supporters, the ban is a violation of Jones’ right to free expression, indicative of a decaying societal appreciation for robust discourse on contentious issues. The difficulty with that argument is that contemporary accounts of free expression are preoccupied with limiting the exercise of state power, and almost entirely ignore the pernicious impact of private actors. Given that social media platforms decisively shape the conditions under which users express themselves online, should we be worried about private power and does public law have a response? Using the example of Jones, he will discuss three scenarios where perhaps public law should bind private platforms even in purely private law relationships, namely: (1) where the platform is structurally dominant, (2) where the platform’s decision-making process is arbitrary, and where (3) exclusion significantly impacts on a user’s societal participation.
5.45pm Thornely AGM, via Zoom
6.15pm, Talk by Dr Stefan Theil, via Zoom
6.45pm Finish
If you would like to join us please contact Nicola Robertson, Alumni Relations Manager, alumnirelationsmanager@sid.cam.ac.uk who will provide you with the Zoom meeting details.
