Cookies and content moderation: affective chilling effects of internet surveillance and censorship

ABSTRACT This study builds on previous surveillance and censorship research that has uncovered the chilling effects of these online technologies. It tests the assumption that political chilling occurs through affective heuristics. By manipulating an online privacy policy to include the presence of either website cookies, as a means of surveillance, or content moderation, as a form of censorship, this research indicates that both website features activate negative affect, but only surveillance engenders problematic chilling effects. The additional presence of U.S. national security justifications accompanying the website cookies or content moderation suppressed some feelings of fear, but did not reduce political chilling. These findings prompt a discussion of how website and application cookies impact expression in digital spaces.