The Dangerous Inconsistencies of Digital Platform Policies
Why did platforms take action when they did? The timing behind new content moderation policies tells the rest of the world everything it needs to know about platform priorities.
Author:
January 13, 2021
Pro-Trump protesters clash with police during a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 US presidential election results on January 6, 2021. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
Last year, more people started to ask the right questions of platforms. Beyond the questions of
who should set
how, lay another important question —
when should that someone set the terms. The deceptively simple issue of timing has laid bare the inconsistencies in platforms’ policies and the harm that they can wreak. We have seen this play out in three dimensions over the past year: political violence, voting and vaccines.