The influence of artificial intelligence on the right of freedom of expression

The right to freedom of thought and expression represents one of the fundamental principles of a democratic and civilized society. The Internet has become the most important communication medium through which the individuals exercise their right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of any kind, regardless of any frontiers. Various technologies have been used to enable an online communication, while today artificial intelligence systems are deployed in every corner of the Internet, providing information dissemination and communication. The application of the artificial intelligence systems is based on generating, collecting, and processing a large quantity of personal data with the aim of profiling users and predicting their future behaviour. This can have serious consequences for the right to freedom of expression. Through the content personalization on online platforms, particularly on social networks and search engines, the artificial intelligence systems choose the content that users can see and the order in which they see it, leaving them in the so-called ‘filter bubbles’. Artificial intelligence systems also moderate the content, removing the one which does not comply with the rules of the online platforms, and, temporarily or permanently, blocking the users who violate the community rules, raising thus the issues of legality, legitimacy and proportionality of the decisions made by artificial intelligence.