Social media represents a new digital commons where people join their social and political lives to those around them. This paper examines the potential of listening to these digital voices on Twitter, and the consequences for how European Union leaders apprehend, respond to and thereby represent their citizens.

To inform the discussion over free speech and hate speech, this study examines the way racial, religious and ethnic slurs are employed on Twitter. Executive summary: How to define the limits of free speech is a central debate in most modern democracies. This is particularly difficult in relation to hateful, abusive and racist speech. The...