Complex Harms in Online Speech: The Limits of the Illocutionary

The internet is, at heart, a communications platform. For this reason, there is a strong case to be made that speech act theory is well positioned to function as a useful theoretical framework for the many problems concerning online speech. I argue, however, that the complexity of harmful speech mediated through online channels renders the traditional elevation of illocutionary acts over perlocution effects inapt. That is, the emphasis on the act constituted by an utterance over its causal effects limits the applicability of one dominant approach to speech act theory—which I call the “illocutionary approach”—to emerging ethical issues. To make this case, I consider three key examples that demonstrate the variety of harms attributable to online speech. These include the targets of online harassment campaigns, the offline victims of viral hate, and the plight of the human content moderators who sift toxic content for little pay in hazardous working conditions.