Discourse, Ideology, and Censorship: A Comparative Analysis of the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) and the bull Inter Sollicitudines (1515)

Abstract

This study examines how the notion of censorship is discursively constructed in Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 and in Pope Leo X’s Bull Inter Sollicitudines. To this end, the study is structured within the theoretical framework of Discourse Analysis and Semiolinguistic Theory. Specifically, it is based on works on constitutive discourses (Maingueneau & Cossutta, 1995), sociodiscursive imaginaries (Charaudeau, 2005 & 2007) and discursive manipulation (Charaudeau, 2009). The ideological aspects are also analysed according to Thompson’s (1990) sociolinguistic proposal on ideology’s modes of operation, as part of Critical Discourse Analysis. The methodology focuses on analysing the discursive strategies used to construct the notion of censorship, particularly lexical choice, at the utterance level and the recourse to activating a specific sociodiscursive imaginary at the level of the enunciation. Such strategies not only legitimate censorship, but also reinforce power structures by delimiting what can be considered reliable information. This study highlights how the ambiguity of the terms used to define, regulate, and apply restrictions on information dissemination enables discursive manipulation by legislators and regulators. Based on our findings, we demonstrate that this allows for an arbitrary interpretation that favours the use of censorship as an ideological tool.