{"id":3457,"date":"2023-05-03T19:28:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T18:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/?page_id=3457"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:14:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T13:14:39","slug":"theorizing-platform-content-moderation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/mancept-workshops\/mancept-workshops-2023\/list-of-panels-a-z-2023\/theorizing-platform-content-moderation\/","title":{"rendered":"Theorizing Platform Content Moderation"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ menu_id=”8″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” module_class=”main-navigation” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”dark” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ module_class=”header-image-section” _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|” custom_css_main_element=”padding-top:0px” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”header-image” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/257\/2022\/02\/Oxford-Roadcrop.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ border_color_all=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”0px|||” animation_direction=”left” use_border_color=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”||0px|” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”breadcrumbs-row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Breadcrumbs (do not remove)” module_class=”breadcrumbs” _builder_version=”3.0.87″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” module_alignment=”left” custom_css_main_element=”border-bottom: 1px solid #ececed;” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\nMANCEPT<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n

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Theorizing Platform Content Moderation: Power, Resistance, and Democratic Control\u00a0<\/h1>\n

Jo\u00e3o C. Magalh\u00e3es (University of Groningen)<\/span><\/span>;\u00a0Naomi Appelman (University of Amsterdam)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Humanities Bridgeford Street Building: Room<\/em> G.35<\/p>\n

Platform content moderation \u2013 how private digital intermediaries define and control what is objectionable and desirable \u2013 has emerged as a central contemporary form of mass speech governance, able to influence billions of people globally. Much of the growing scholarship focuses on describing its functioning, complexities, and technologies, and on trying to reform platforms by holding them to constitutional values. Yet, despite its obvious political nature, content moderation remains under-conceptualized as a (global) political practice.<\/p>\n

This is puzzling as moderation rearticulates key concepts of political theory. Recent years made clear that platforms, regardless of their unilateral ability to moderate, often seek to appease some actors in the design and enforcement of their moderation rules and technologies. These processes are hardly linear, though: not all voices, from all countries, at all times, are heard. These dynamics have shown to reinforce systems of social and global oppression such as racism,\u00a0 sexism, or neo-colonialism in a way that is intimately connected to these companies\u2019 global political economic interests. This evidences the need to understand how moderation relates to representation, recognition<\/em>, and plurality, <\/em>which are closely related with matters of justice, equality, <\/em>and dignity. <\/em>Similarly, it calls for understanding resistance <\/em>to these systems as well as the patterns of in- <\/em>and exclusion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two factors make these aspects challenging to understand or address through usual normative frameworks, such as legal rights. Firstly, platforms are a peculiar kind of organization: globally operating corporations with an oversized influence over the universal moral needs of socialization and individual expression. In other words, while their immense power is not anchored in usual processes of political legitimation (e.g., elections) or even a polity, and often remains legally protected by so-called \u2018safe harbour\u2019 laws, these companies still owe us something \u2013 but what, exactly, and how do we define this \u2018us\u2019? Further, much of content moderation today is automated through machine learning systems. The meaning of \u201cobjectionable\u201d or \u201cdesirable\u201d, or how to punish those who violate these definitions, may thus emerge not from direct human reasoning but from probabilistic calculations driven by complexly constructed datasets. Whose voice is represented and silenced when thousands of data annotators, moderators, officers, and technologists play some role in the construction of the algorithms that spot, say, hate speech? How to account for the cascading layers of rules, institutions, and actors?<\/p>\n

Workshop aims:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This workshop aims to address the urgent task of theorizing platform content moderation. We especially welcome scholars working from the perspective of radical democratic theory, democratic resistance, decolonial theory, and political economy\u00a0 to consider three broad questions:<\/p>\n