In the US, social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) provide a new way

In the US, social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter) provide a new way through which people (ordinary people, yes, but also activists, politicians, writers, bloggers, film-makers, artists, journalists, academics, policy-makers, and others) express themselves in various capacities. Some have argued that these new forms of expression have given voice to new actors and new social movements (e.g. citizen videos of police violence shared on platforms have been key to Black Lives Matter, sharing of personal experiences using a hashtag has been key to the #metoo movement) while others have argued that the flowering of social media has led to an exacerbation of hateful rhetoric, harassment, and misinformation (the former two extracting a disproportionate cost on women and minorities). Still others have argued that attempts to police misinformation are a way to clamp down on legitimate views.
Using the controversy about freedom of speech on social media as your case-study, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of liberalism as a theory of society. [Note: you don’t have to discuss ALL of liberalism (all the different type of rights, for e.g.) and you certainly don’t have to discuss every strength and weakness. Focus on something specific: like the concept of harm, or the harm principle, or something else that strikes you given the prompt.]
Thesis: You should write a clear paragraph explicitly setting out your thesis. Thesis paragraphs should be 100-200 words. For more on what a thesis paragraph looks like, see the paper prompt.
Readings: List the 6 (or more) readings you plan to use in your paper. Remember at least 3 should be readings marked with a * on the syllabus. For each reading, please write (a) Summary (at least 100 words): Summarize the reading in your own words, no quotations. (b) How will you use the reading as evidence for your thesis? (at least 100 words). (c) Write out at least two quotations from the reading and interpret them (at least 100 words) and describe how they support your thesis.