How Negative Media Coverage Impacts Platform Governance: Evidence from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

Nahema Marchal
,
Emma Hoes
K. Jonathan Klüser
K. Jonathan Klüser
,
Meysam Alizadeh
,
Felix Hamborg
,
Christian Katzenbach
,
Maël Kubli
DOI
Abstract
Social media companies wield considerable power over what people can say and do online, with consequences for freedom of expression and participation in digital culture. Yet we still know little about the factors that shape these companies’ policy decisions. Drawing on data collected from mainstream English-language news sources between 2005-2021 and on a novel dataset of policy documents from the Platform Governance Archive (PGA), we investigate the extent to which policy change at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube is responsive to negative news coverage. We find that sustained negative coverage significantly predicts changes to platforms’ user policies, highlighting the role of public pressure in shaping the governance of online platforms.
Type
Publication
Political Communication
Status
Peer-reviewed
publications
Platform Governance Political Attention
K. Jonathan Klüser
Authors
K. Jonathan Klüser (he/him)
Political Scientist
I study how political institutions, media, and digital platforms allocate attention — which problems get taken up, who has the power to force an issue onto the agenda, and what happens to democratic representation when that power shifts outside elected institutions. My research spans three connected strands: executive institutions and bureaucratic capacity, representation and economic inequality in party systems, and the digital reallocation of attention through influencers, platform governance, and deepfakes. I hold a PhD in Political Science from Aarhus University and currently lead an SNSF Ambizione project at the University of Zurich.