Academic freedom is understood as a set of individual protections and community practices for faculty to assess quality, promote truth-seeking, and advance the common good through research, teaching, and other expression. It is also understood as a set of institutional principles for universities when it comes to decision-making about academic matters such as faculty hiring, curriculum development, and resource allocation. The principles, practices and protections of academic freedom exist within the unique university-professor relationship, and can be analogized to the moderation of content posted and shared by individual users on internet platforms like Facebook. Drawing on existing scholarship in the study of higher education as well as constitutional and internet law, this analogy yields a novel framework to better understand complex academic freedom issues where the rights and responsibilities of faculty members and universities are implicated. Universities can engage this framework to advocate for academic freedom and institutional autonomy when faced with challenging controversies. This article concludes with recommendations for professors and higher-education administrators to better protect academic freedom through more transparent policies, strengthened collegial governance, and improved public outreach.