Abstract

Digital platforms are media gatekeepers that decide how information is circulated in society, and increasingly also geopolitical actors with the power to shape our world. Platforms use content moderation - encompassing technology, policy and human resources - to counter problematic developments, such as the spread of hate speech and disinformation, as well as guide the quality and tone of the information and media environment. With new political and technological developments, platform governance as it relates to content moderation is experiencing a set of important and complex shifts. Firstly, discussions of media power are moving beyond questions of what kinds of content should and should not be allowed on social media towards questions of which content becomes visible or invisible under which ambient conditions and contexts. Secondly, recent developments in generative AI products, such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, pose new challenges for content governance, as content encompasses not just user posts, but also highly complex AI models and their outputs, the effects of which remain poorly understood. Thirdly, the regulatory environment for platforms is becoming increasingly diffuse, as the US' policies diverge from the EU's Digital Services and AI acts, and infrastructural actors, such as app stores and payment processors, become further entangled in platform governance. This project seeks to explore emerging shifts in platform governance and their implications for society and democracy, using a combination of computational methods and innovative digital approaches, alongside qualitative data collection and analysis.

CMC Staff

Charlotte Spencer-Smith (Project Leader)