Facts and Where to Find Them: Empirical Research on Internet Platforms and Content Moderation

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2020
Host editors
  • N. Persily
  • J.A. Tucker
Book title Social Media and Democracy
Book subtitle The State of the Field, Prospects for Reform
ISBN
  • 9781108835558
  • 9781108812894
ISBN (electronic)
  • 9781108890960
Series SSRC Anxieties of Democracy
Chapter 10
Pages (from-to) 220-251
Number of pages 31
Publisher Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Organisations
  • Faculty of Law (FdR) - Institute for Information Law (IViR)
Abstract
We live in an era of increasing worry that internet platforms like Facebook or Twitter, which mediate our online speech, are also fomenting hatred, spreading misinformation, and distorting political outcomes. The 2016 US presidential election, in particular, unleashed a torrent of concern about platform-borne harms. Policymakers around the world have called for laws requiring platforms to do more to combat illegal and even merely “harmful” content. Reliable information about platforms’ content-removal systems was, for many years, hard to come by, but data and disclosures are steadily emerging as researchers focus on the topic and platforms ramp up their transparency efforts. This chapter reviews major sources of information released by platforms, as well as independent research concerning content-takedown operations.
Document type Chapter
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108890960.011
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