-
The unjust burden of digital inclusion for low‐income migrant parents Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2024-02-23 Tanya Notley, Abdul Aziz
There are significant digital inclusion disparities between low‐ and high‐income households across countries. Yet, there is a lack of in‐depth research about the relationship between digital and social participation in low‐income family households, especially in households facing multiple forms of disadvantage and discrimination due to language, cultural or literacy barriers. This article is based
-
Core concerns: The need for a governance framework to protect global Internet infrastructure Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Dennis Broeders, Arun Sukumar
The war in Ukraine has underscored the risks and threats to global Internet infrastructure from geopolitically motivated cyber operations. The Domain Name System and core protocols responsible for the routing, forwarding, and security of Internet traffic have been exploited by actors in Russia and Ukraine for denial-of-service attacks, surveillance, and censorship. Additionally, states have tried to
-
Watering down the wine: European Union regulation of violent right-wing extremism content and the securitisation of new online spaces Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-12-04 Danielle Flonk, Richard McNeil-Willson
The regulation of violent right-wing extremist online content in the European Union is facing a conundrum. On the one hand, pressure to respond to concern over violent right-wing extremism (or VRWE, a term used by the European Union to refer to ‘far right’) has led to a push to develop a coherent European-wide response. On the one hand, this has led to a watering down or ‘loosening’ of the concept
-
‘To say report it, well, it seems a little useless’: Evaluating Australians' expectations of online service providers and reducing online child sexual exploitation Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-28 Francis Maxwell, Michael Salter, Noam Peleg
Online service providers (OSPs) provide a range of opportunities for individuals to engage in online child sexual exploitation, including the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. As the failings of opaque content moderation systems have become apparent, a range of states have proposed or implemented new regulatory measures, amidst ongoing debates over the legitimacy of state
-
Moderating borderline content while respecting fundamental values Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-28 Stuart Macdonald, Katy Vaughan
As efforts to identify and remove online terrorist and violent extremist content have intensified, concern has also grown about so-called lawful but awful content. Various options have been touted for reducing the visibility of this borderline content, including removing it from search and recommendation algorithms, downranking it and redirecting those who search for it. This article contributes to
-
Mandate to overblock? Understanding the impact of the European Union's Article 17 on copyright content moderation on YouTube Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-28 Daria Dergacheva, Christian Katzenbach
This article presents the results of a study measuring possible overblocking due to copyright moderation and changes in the diversity of cultural products supply on YouTube in two European Union (EU) member states comparable in size and population, Germany and France. Both have adopted Article 17 of the EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive (CDSMD) but Germany was 5 months ahead
-
Moderating manipulation: Demystifying extremist tactics for gaming the (regulatory) system Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-28 Ashley A. Mattheis, Ashton Kingdon
Due to its ease of scalability and broad applicability, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in platform management has gained prominence. This has led to widespread debates about the use of deplatforming as the default tool for repeated or severe violations of terms or service. But technologically deterministic approaches are not infallible and can be predictable based on their
-
Recommending instead of taking down: YouTube hyperpartisan content promotion amid the Brazilian general elections Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-22 Rose Marie Santini, Débora Salles, Bruno Mattos
YouTube released a global commitment to reduce the spread of problematic content by actively recommending “trusted” news sources on their platform but did not disclose the criteria used to classify the reputation of channels and the list of trusted news sources favored by the company. We aim to understand the patterns of recommendation by YouTube's algorithm and identify what the platform classifies
-
Effects of online citizen participation on legitimacy beliefs in local government. Evidence from a comparative study of online participation platforms in three German municipalities Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-09 Tobias Escher, Bastian Rottinghaus
In order to generate legitimacy for policies and political institutions, governments regularly involve citizens in the decision-making process, increasingly so via the Internet. This research investigates if online participation does indeed impact positively on legitimacy beliefs of those citizens engaging with the process, and which particular aspects of the participation process, the individual participants
-
“Highly nuanced policy is very difficult to apply at scale”: Examining researcher account and content takedowns online Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-06 Aaron Y. Zelin
Since 2019, researchers examining, archiving, and collecting extremist and terrorist materials online have increasingly been taken offline. In part a consequence of the automation of content moderation by different technology companies and national governments calling for ever quicker takedowns. Based on an online survey of peers in the field, this research highlights that up to 60% of researchers
-
Special issue: The (international) politics of content takedowns: Theory, practice, ethics Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-11-06 James Fitzgerald, Ayse D. Lokmanoglu
INTRODUCTION Content takedowns have emerged as a key regulatory pillar in the global fight against misinformation and extremism. Despite their increasing ubiquity as disruptive tools in political processes, however, their true efficacy remains up for debate. We “know,” for example, that takedowns had a strong disruptive effect on Islamic State-supporting networks from 2014 onwards (Conway et al., 2019)
-
Countering online terrorist content: A social regulation approach Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-10-30 Amy-Louise Watkin
After a period of self-regulation, countries around the world began to implement regulations for the removal of terrorist content from tech platforms. However, much of this regulation has been criticised for a variety of reasons, most prominently for concerns of infringing free speech and creating unfair burdens for smaller platforms. In addition to this, regulation is heavily centred around content
-
Content takedowns and activist organizing: Impact of social media content moderation on activists and organizing Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-10-26 Diane Jackson
Social media companies are increasingly transcending the offline sphere by shaping online discourse that has direct effects on offline outcomes. Recent polls have shown that as many as 70% of young people in the United States have used social media for information about political elections (Booth et al., 2020) and almost 30% of US adults have used social media to post about political and social issues
-
Crowdfunding platforms as conduits for ideological struggle and extremism: On the need for greater regulation and digital constitutionalism Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-09-24 Matthew Wade, Stephanie A. Baker, Michael J. Walsh
Crowdfunding platforms remain understudied as conduits for ideological struggle. While other social media platforms may enable the expression of hateful and harmful ideas, crowdfunding can actively facilitate their enaction through financial support. In addressing such risks, crowdfunding platforms attempt to mitigate complicity but retain legitimacy. That is, ensuring their fundraising tools are not
-
Website blocking in the European Union: Network interference from the perspective of Open Internet Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-09-19 Vasilis Ververis, Lucas Lasota, Tatiana Ermakova, Benjamin Fabian
By establishing an infrastructure for monitoring and blocking networks in accordance with European Union (EU) law on preventive measures against the spread of information, EU member states have also made it easier to block websites and services and monitor information. While relevant studies have documented Internet censorship in non-European countries, as well as the use of such infrastructures for
-
Content moderation through removal of service: Content delivery networks and extremist websites Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-09-18 Seán Looney
Considerable attention has been paid by researchers to social media platforms, especially the ‘big companies’, and increasingly also messaging applications, and how effectively they moderate extremist and terrorist content on their services. Much less attention has yet been paid to if and how infrastructure and service providers, further down ‘the tech stack’, deal with extremism and terrorism. Content
-
Follow to be followed: The centrality of MFAs in Twitter networks Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Ilan Manor, Elad Segev
This article outlines three major features of the digital society (information sharing, a levelled-playing field, and reciprocal surveillance) and explores their manifestation in the field of diplomacy. The article analyzed the international network of 78 Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) on Twitter during the critical period of its growth between 2014 and 2016. To explain why some MFAs follow or
-
The cloud sovereignty nexus: How the European Union seeks to reverse strategic dependencies in its digital ecosystem Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-09-05 Filippo Gualtiero Blancato
How does the European Union balance the need to migrate data to the cloud with the imperative of reducing its dependence on foreign cloud providers? Cloud computing is a critical technology for the competitiveness of the European Union (EU) in the digital economy. This paper argues that the EU is adopting a host of regulatory requirements and industrial policy tools—which fall under the umbrella term
-
The weaponization of platform governance: Mass reporting and algorithmic punishments in the creator economy Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-23 Colten Meisner
Amid wider discussions of online harassment on social media platforms, recent research has turned to the experiences of social media creators whose compulsory visibility renders them vulnerable to frequent attacks, ranging from persistent trolling to much more insidious, offline acts of violence. This study examines a contemporary form of harassment against social media creators known as “mass reporting
-
Transitional affordances: A longitudinal mixed-method study on the context and effects of changing mode of online access Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-17 Teresa Correa, Isabel Pavez, Catalina Farías, Camila Henzi
As mobile-only use has increased over the last decade, research has found that mode of online access (mobile-only vs. mobile and computer use) is related to digital inequalities. Relying on the literature on affordances and digital inclusion, this study seeks to: (1) examine the effects of mode of access on the number of online activities, over time; and (2) understand how the context of transitioning
-
Ready but irresponsible? Analysis of the Government Artificial Intelligence Readiness Index Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Stany Nzobonimpa, Jean-François Savard
Many are the promises of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms. Governments around the world are increasingly investing in AI and multiple voices have touted this seemingly unmatched revolution. Better performance, cost reduction, efficient management, crime prediction, and prevention are but a few of the pledges of the AI era. While such promises are recognized, research shows that AI benefits
-
Prospects of blockchain governance: Understanding key public values, principles, challenges, and opportunities Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Maxat Kassen
The article elaborates on the potential of blockchain technology to transform governance in different sectors of economy. The research primarily relies on rich empirical data that have been collected from semistructured interviews and focus group studies with professional blockchain developers. In this regard, the article aims to answer the following questions: How could blockchain governance conceptually
-
The News Media Bargaining Code: Impacts on Australian journalism one year on Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Diana Bossio, Belinda Barnet
The Australian News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC) is the first successful legislative attempt to compel digital platforms to pay news media organisations for third party news content. This paper focuses on the NMBC after its first year to explore whether the Code was successful in meeting one of its publicly stated purposes; supporting public interest journalism. We argue that the Code delivered outcomes
-
The success of e-participation. Learning lessons from Decide Madrid and We asked, You said, We did in Scotland Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Sonia Royo, Benedetta Bellò, Lourdes Torres, James Downe
Electronic participation (e-participation) has grown across the world in recent decades and many governments offer a range of opportunities for e-participation. However, there is a lack of comparative analyses of successful initiatives, which can be useful in supporting subsequent adopters. This study identifies the best practices and areas for improvement of Decide Madrid and We asked, You said, We
-
Support for misinformation regulation on social media: It is the perceived harm of misinformation that matters, not the perceived amount Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Isabelle Freiling, Marlis Stubenvoll, Jörg Matthes
Responding to harmful content on social media, calls for regulations are coming up to break down the black boxes of social media platforms in handling misinformation. Examples are requiring cooperations with fact-checkers or the government stepping in. So far, there is a lack of knowledge about predictors of policy attitudes in the context of misinformation besides attitudes toward and perceptions
-
Transparency for what purpose?: Designing outcomes-focused transparency tactics for digital platforms Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Yinuo Geng
Transparency has long been held up as the solution to the societal harms caused by digital platforms' use of algorithms. However, what transparency means, how to create meaningful transparency, and what behaviors can be altered through transparency are all ambiguous legal and policy questions. This paper argues for beginning with clarifying the desired outcome (the “why”) before focusing on transparency
-
What is an online political advert? An interrogation of conceptual challenges in the formation of digital policy response Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Katharine Dommett, Junyan Zhu
Despite British and European policymakers' quest to regulate online political advertising, it is not clear what exactly constitutes an online political advert. As with many areas of digital governance, it is therefore necessary to impose definitional criteria, yet the process of doing so is by no means straightforward. Using qualitative interviews, we set out to clarify alternative routes for definition
-
Promotion of hate speech by Spanish political actors on Twitter Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-07-31 Elias Said-Hung, Roberto Moreno-López, Daria Mottareale-Calvanese
By examining the messages published by Spanish political groups on Twitter, this paper seeks to identify the level and understanding of the type and use of hate speech within these groups’ discursive strategy. For this purpose, the topics of 60,209 tweets published between 1 September 2019 and 29 February 2020, by 16 political groups, leaders, and spokespersons of the Congress of Deputies in Spain
-
Social media governance and strategies to combat online hatespeech in Germany Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-06-14 Daniela Stockmann, Sophia Schlosser, Paxia Ksatryo
Concerns over online hatespeech have prompted governments to strengthen social media governance. However, claims by policy-makers and political activists regarding the effectiveness and likely consequences of legal regulations remain largely untested. We rely on qualitative interviews and two expert surveys to examine the behavior of public relations professionals in response to online hatespeech when
-
National markets in a world of global platform giants: The persistence of Russian domestic competitors Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-05-15 Alina Kontareva, Martin Kenney
US platform companies have dominated the global platform economy. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and company reports, we explore the reasons that Russia was able to develop platform companies that survived the entry of US firms. The chaotic post-Soviet society paradoxically provided a sheltered environment within which domestic companies could build sufficient competence to maintain their
-
The public good and public attitudes toward data sharing through IoT Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-05-14 Karen Mossberger, Seongkyung Cho, Pauline Hope Cheong, Daria Kuznetsova
The Internet of Things (IoT) has potential to deliver important benefits for IoT users, society and public good. How do citizens feel about sharing data from personal devices compared with “smart city” data collection in public spaces, with government and nongovernmental organizations, and across different situations? What predicts willingness to share their data with government? Through a nationally
-
The changing role of nation states in online content governance: A case of Google's handling of government removal requests Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-05-11 Soyoung Park, Yoonmo Sang
Building upon previous studies that divide the governance of digital platforms into three eras (Flew, 2021; Bowers & Zittrain, 2020), this study investigates how one of the most influential digital platforms, Google, has handled removal requests from governments. By sketching the regulatory terrain of Google, the current study seeks a more balanced understanding of content moderation. This study selected
-
Hate speech on social media against German mayors: Extent of the phenomenon, reactions, and implications Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-03-20 Rafael Bauschke, Sebastian Jäckle
Drawing on an online survey of mayors from the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg this article analyses (1) to what extent social media is used abusively at the municipal level, (2) how mayors react to hate speech and (3) whether the experience of such insulting comments and threats is correlated with their perception of social media as a tool for political communication. The analysis shows
-
Bridging the digital divide for Native American tribes: Roadblocks to broadband and community resilience Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2023-03-08 Karina V. Korostelina, Jocelyn Barrett
Native American reservations are faced with a growing need for High-speed Internet and broadband access but face a variety of barriers to broadband infrastructure deployment. This paper discusses the difficulties tribal nations have faced in developing their education, economy, and access to healthcare and public safety due to the roadblocks in building this infrastructure within their tribes. Using
-
A new social contract for technology Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-11-16 Ramesh Srinivasan, Dipayan Ghosh
The tides of public sentiment in the United States have turned squarely against Silicon Valley's leading internet firms. Long-running Congressional inquiries; employee-led backlashes and news leaks; expert analyses that have uncovered deep-rooted social concerns; and aggressive journalistic inquiry—these and other actions have pushed the executives of America's most successful technology firms under
-
An exploratory study of social media's role in facilitating public participation in e-rulemaking using computational text analysis tools Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Kayla Schwoerer
Government agencies struggle to use social media effectively to engage and involve the public. However, we know little about how individuals and groups on the other side of these efforts actually use social media to participate in government decision-making processes, independent of government-led engagement efforts. This exploratory study aims to address this by looking closer at how Twitter users
-
Multisolving innovations: How digital equity, e-waste, and right-to-repair policies can increase the supply of affordable computers Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Amy L. Gonzales, Yeweon Kim, Laurent H. Wang
Policy debates about the digital divide often focus on the availability and quality of Internet access, despite the fact that device inequities are persistent and widespread. To address this important but often overlooked policy concern, we present findings from a systematic literature review of policy research that informs the supply of low-cost, large-screen computers. Using the framework of multisolving
-
Invisible transparency: How different types of ad disclaimers on Facebook affect whether and how digital political advertising is perceived Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-11-07 Pablo Jost, Simon Kruschinski, Michael Sülflow, Jörg Haßler, Marcus Maurer
One central measure set out in the regulation of digital political advertising (DPA) concentrates on transparency disclaimers to make users aware that the respective content was bought and targeted at them with a specific intention by an advertiser. However, we lack scientific evidence about if and how users perceive transparency disclaimers of DPA on social media. This article aims to provide first
-
Do fake online comments pose a threat to regulatory policymaking? Evidence from Internet regulation in the United States Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-10-27 Cassandra Handan-Nader
Broad stakeholder participation in regulatory policymaking via online commenting platforms has become the norm in many advanced democracies around the world. In recent years, a policy debate has emerged over the dangers posed to the process by fake comments that impersonate ordinary citizens. This paper helps to clarify the terms of this debate by evaluating a contentious and prominent case in the
-
Beyond national boundaries in the study of digital public engagement: Interparliamentary institutions and cooperation in the Austrian and Portuguese national parliaments Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-10-18 Sofia Serra-Silva
This study assesses the role of interparliamentary institutions (IPIs) and networks in the diffusion of new ideas and solutions of (digital) public engagement in national parliaments by using elite semistructured interviews from two case studies, Austria and Portugal. Evidence collected shows that both parliaments are strongly relying on IPIs to develop and implement digital public engagement activities
-
Hypernudging in the changing European regulatory landscape for digital markets Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-10-12 Viktorija Morozovaite
The European regulatory landscape for digital markets is undergoing a transformative change. There is an observed shift toward the protection of public values and fundamental rights, as the market mechanism and market values that traditionally led regulatory processes in digital markets seem to have fallen short. In the context of the user-centric digital economy, a clear commitment to safeguarding
-
Assessing inclusivity in online platforms through usability evaluation with Google Analytics Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-10-12 Annelieke C. van den Berg, Sarah Giest, Wessel Kraaij
As online platforms are swiftly becoming a dominant interface of government–citizen interactions, it is crucial that these platforms are inclusive. This article considers the potential of using digital trace data for assessing inclusivity in online platforms. Given that Google Analytics (GA) is a popular tool for collecting and analyzing digital trace data, this article asks to what extent GA is useful
-
Oegugin Influencers and pop nationalism through government campaigns: Regulating foreign-nationals in the South Korean YouTube ecology Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Jin Lee, Crystal Abidin
In South Korea, it has become a growing trend for foreign Influencers to promote Korean cultures, especially through genres like mukbang (livestreamed binge-eating), beauty vlogs (e.g. “A day in the life of”), reaction (e.g., K-pop and K-drama “reacts”). This is observed in popular cross-platform hashtag streams like “oegugin” [#외국인; “foreign-nationals”], and “oegugin-baneung” [#외국인반응; “foreigner reactions”]
-
Influencing the influencers: Regulating the morality of online conduct in Indonesia Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Petra Mahy, Monika Winarnita, Nicholas Herriman
Indonesia boasts a lively influencer scene. These influencers promote various products and messages, including political messages, to their followers for commercial gain, and have been particularly active during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Influencers in Indonesia are potentially subject to state regulation, particularly via the controversial Electronic Transactions and Information
-
Ghosts of YouTube: Rules and conventions in Japanese YouTube content creation outsourcing Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Tommaso Barbetta
Employment relationships have become a crucial component of the influencer industry in Japan. The professionalization of content production has become particularly visible on YouTube, where influencers and brands frequently hire intermediary creators to assist in or outsource the production of videos. Screenwriters and editors work behind the scenes to support the constant stream of “fresh” content
-
Broadcasting anti-media populism in the Philippines: YouTube influencers, networked political brokerage, and implications for governance Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano, Marie Fatima Gaw
This article interrogates platform governance and accountability amid the growing role of influencers in constructing political discourses, and particularly, in the intermediation of anti-media ideological frames through their embeddedness in networked assemblages. We deploy the concept of “networked political brokerage” to examine the sociotechnical relations among influencers, the platform, and its
-
Regulating social media and influencers within Vietnam Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-19 Viet Tho Le, Jonathon Hutchinson
Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hang is the CEO of Dai Nam Van Hien, a tourism complex in Binh Duong province in southern Vietnam, and in 2021 she started livestreaming on social media. Hang's livestreams would humiliate celebrities, include personal attacks, criticize media and charity organizations, and use harassing language, resulting in the Vietnamese government regulating social media influencers. Vietnam
-
Racial harmony and sexual violence: Uneven regulation and legal protection gaps for influencers in Singapore Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-14 George Radics, Crystal Abidin
Drawing on a multi-year ethnographic study of influencers in Singapore and analyses on frameworks regulating racial harmony and sexual violence, this paper adopts approaches from anthropology, cultural studies, and socio-legal studies to illustrate how the law heavily regulates certain influencers while failing to protect others. This spans across governance from the “state” through government interventions
-
E-Government maturity assessment: Evidence from Greek municipalities Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-09-06 Zoi Patergiannaki, Yannis Pollalis
Several e-Government maturity models have been developed throughout the years to assess the progress of e-Government. This diversity of models has drawn some criticism in terms of their similarity, oversimplicity, one-sided view and the characteristics incorporated in their stages. The goal of this study is to explore if a simple e-Government maturity model can capture e-Government progress and if
-
“Never good enough.” A situated understanding of the impact of digitalization on citizens living in a low socioeconomic position Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-07-18 Nicole S. Goedhart, Petra Verdonk, Christine Dedding
Digital inequality is a critical issue in our knowledge economy. Often digital inequality is framed as a problem that only older people encounter. This rather stereotypical portrayal can result in improvised and unsuccessful policy actions. The goal of the article is to take the experiences of citizens who never or seldom use information and communication technology as a point of departure to show
-
The political origins of platform economy regulations. Understanding variations in governing Airbnb and Uber across cities in Switzerland Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-06-21 Marine C. Benli-Trichet, Daniel Kübler
In the past decade, digital platforms have entrenched themselves within key urban sectors, opening the way for radical changes in traditional industries. Along with new opportunities for city residents, globally operating platforms such as Airbnb and Uber also raised specific challenges, sparking calls for adequate responses by city governments around the world. The aim of this paper is to explain
-
Immigrants, deviants, and drug users: A rhetorical analysis of President Trump's fear-driven tweets during the 2019 government shutdown Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-06-19 Monica A. Bustinza, Kaila Witkowski
Social media platforms are widely used by numerous political officials to quickly disseminate information and/or obtain influence. Yet, little emphasis has been placed on analyzing how the dissemination of contentious messages is propagated using these e-platforms. The purpose of this study is to examine President Donald J. Trump's political rhetoric about immigration policies during the 2018–2019
-
Procedural rights as safeguard for human rights in platform regulation Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-05-25 Judit Bayer
In what way can coregulation and regulation (like that included in the NetzDG and envisaged by the Digital Services Act) ensure individual users' right to procedural fairness, through ensuring due process and transparency? In other words, how could users be treated fairly when it comes to removing their objectionable content: For example, by being appropriately informed, being able to raise complaints
-
The barriers to regulating the online world: Insights from UK debates on online political advertising Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-05-23 Katharine Dommett, Junyan Zhu
Online political advertising has grown rapidly over the last two decades and played an important role in campaigns and elections. Arising with it are concerns around issues such as data privacy and transparency, which have sparked calls for regulation. Whilst change has begun to be implemented, in many contexts moves to regulate online political advertising have been limited. In this article, we explore
-
Rethinking the legal regulation of Internet platform monopoly in China Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-05-23 Qing He
The existing regulatory regime for single firm exclusionary activity is primarily to establish a dominant position for a finding of an abuse, but there are challenges coming out of relevant market definition, market power determination, and the efficiency or innovation justifications. This paper argues for an alternative solution: an effects-based analysis methodology for regulating platforms which
-
Lessons from France on the regulation of Internet pornography: How displacement effects, circumvention, and legislative scope may limit the efficacy of Article 23 Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-04-05 Neil Thurman, Asmik Nalmpatian, Fabian Obster
In 2020, the French Parliament passed an amendment that put the country at the forefront of attempts by democratic states to restrict young people's access to legal online pornography. This study examines the necessity for and potential efficacy of the amendment, Article 23, through a comparative analysis of emerging legislative and regulatory approaches in France, the UK, Canada, Utah, and Germany
-
Regulating datafication and platformization: Policy silos and tradeoffs in international platform inquiries Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-03-25 Pawel Popiel
A key concern in international policy debates about articulating oversight of digital platform markets involves policy silos, arising from the scope of platformization and datafication, and the challenges in defining their policy boundaries and coordinating a comprehensive policy response. This article examines how policymakers grapple with the problem by looking at a growing number of expert inquiries
-
Social media and politics on the local level Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-03-22 Mario Datts, Martin Schultze
The local level is highly important for political engagement, as political issues that are relevant to citizens' daily lives are discussed at this level. Therefore, political parties are especially interested in organizing a strong local basis. Yet, empirical research on the local party units is rather scarce, particularly with respect to their social media activities. We do not know whether the local
-
Centrality and power. The struggle over the techno-political configuration of the Internet and the global digital order Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-03-21 Julia Pohle, Daniel Voelsen
In recent years, various governments have been trying to subordinate the Internet to the system of the Westphalian state order. This article seeks to add a new layer to the analysis of this conflict over state sovereignty and the global digital order. It draws on network theory as an alternative analytical lens to study the reconfiguration of power relations that define the Internet as a technical
-
Super-amplifiers! The role of Twitter extended party networks in political elections Policy & Internet (IF 4.51) Pub Date : 2022-03-21 Nara Yoon, Jeff Hemsley, Alexander Smith, Ellen Simpson, James Eakins
Modern election campaigns leverage social media and the networks within to get their messages directly out to the public. We use the theory of extended party networks to explore networks of engaged users who extensively amplify messages posted by political candidates. Using Twitter data from the Senate races in the U.S. 2018 midterm election, we build Twitter extended party networks out of dedicated