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Governing the Digital Society: Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values

José van Dijck, Karin Van Es, Anne Helmond, Fernando van der Vlist (eds.)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2025), 261 pp.

"Governing the Digital Societypresents a range of governance approaches, focusing on online platforms, artificial intelligence, and the public values that underpin these technologies. The authors position themselves at the forefront of their disciplines, offering perspectives from law, critical data ... more

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The Platform Question: Power, Accountability, and the Global South. An Anthology

Raina Ghosh, Maitri Singh, Arpita Kanjilal (eds.)

Centre for Development Policy and Practice; ARISE Community and Digital Empowerment Foundation (2025), 159 pp.

"This anthology is the result of a global collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and activists who come together to reflect on the expanding role of platforms in an increasingly digitized world. As platformization reshapes economies, politics, and everyday interactions, it brings with it new f ... more

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Governing Misinformation in Everyday Knowledge Commons

Madelyn Sanfilippo, Melissa G. Ocepek (eds.)

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2025), xiv, 278 pp.

"Governing Misinformation in Everyday Knowledge Commons delves into the complex issue of misinformation in our daily lives. The book synthesizes three scholarly traditions - everyday life, misinformation, and governing knowledge commons - to present 10 case studies of online and offline communities ... more

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Estado de situación de la regulación de las plataformas digitales en Uruguay

Matías Jackson, Patricia Díaz

Montevideo: Datysoc Laboratorio de Datos y Sociedad de DATA Uruguay; Observacom (2025), 46 pp.

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Case law on content moderation and freedom of expression

Erik Tuchtfeld

New York: Columbia University, Global Freedom of Expression, 2nd ed. (2024), 29 pp.

"This edition of the Special Collection on the Case Law of Freedom of Expression: Case law on content moderation and freedom of expression is an update of the 2023 Special Collection on content moderation and freedom of expression. It includes cases that have been added to the database in the period ... more

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Combatting online hate: Crowd moderation and the public goods problem

Tanja Marie Hansen, Lasse Lindekilde, Simon Tobias Karg, Michael Bang Petersen, Stig Hebbelstrup Rye Rasmussen

Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, volume 49, issue 3 (2024), pp. 444-467

"Hate is widespread online, hits everyone, and carries negative consequences. Crowd moderation—user-assisted moderation through, e. g., reporting or counter-speech—is heralded as a potential remedy. We explore this potential by linking insights on online bystander interventions to the analogy of ... more

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Online Content Regulation in the Asia-Pacific: Limiting Civil Society’s Capacity to Hold Governments Accountable

Bangkog: Asia Centre (2024), v, 37 pp.

"Governments have updated penal codes and national security laws, enacted fake news and cybersecurity laws as well as laws that govern internet service providers and technology companies. These laws have widely been used to block and remove online content that call out blind spots in government poli ... cies and to intimidate and prosecute these content creators through hefty fines and jail time. Efforts to hold political office holders and government officials accountable for their policies are increasingly penalised. These government actions have significantly impacted civil society actors in numerous ways. First, individuals and organisations utilising the online sphere to hold government officials and policies accountable have come under intense scrutiny, resulting in the criminalisation of critics and the blocking and removal of online content deemed sensitive by state authorities. Second, the effectiveness of civil society in holding governments accountable is compromised, as state authorities routinely direct internet service providers and technology companies to block or remove online content considered sensitive or illegal. Consequently, individuals and organisations increasingly find their digital content at risk of being blocked or removed, succumbing to government directives to internet service providers and technology companies. This diminishes civil society’s calls for accountability. Third, on several instances, governments have imposed internet shutdowns - particularly during elections and politically sensitive periods - to disrupt the information flow. Ultimately, this has limited civil society’s ability to send and receive communications effectively to mobilise people to hold governments publicly accountable during politically important instances. Fourth, troll ng has surfaced as a mainstream strategy to harass and intimidate individuals and organisations who seek to hold governments accountable. Typically orchestrated by organised groups or cybertroopers, these digital attacks increasingly involve online hate speech directed at women who call out blindspots in government policies. Fifth, the ways of working of INGOs and CSOs have changed, leading many organisations to restrict the scope and assertiveness of their communications to shield themselves from government retribution and trolling. Some entities have opted to remove the visibility of their organisations, incorporating measures such as disallowing the use of their logos or the publishing of videos, photos and text by local partners in order to distance themselves from particular activities and contents of knowledge products. Given these developments, the principal recommendation is that key stakeholders, including international organisations, governments, ISPs and technology companies, and civil society actors, should recognise that criticism of government policies and officials is a legitimate activity and a vital form of expression for civil society. Hence, any measures, whether legal or non-legal, that interfere with or criminalise this legitimate activity should be rescinded or disallowed. Instead, measures should be put in place to ensure that civil society is empowered to call out the blind spots in government policies." (Executive summary) more

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Countering violent extremism through internet intermediaries: A typology for cross-country comparison

Vincent Pak-Hong Wong

Global Media and Communication, volume 20, issue 1 (2024), pp. 3-22

"This paper examines the counter-violent extremism and anti-terrorism measures in Australia, China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States by investigating how governments leveraged internet intermediaries as their surrogate censors. Particular attention is paid to how political rhetoric l ... more

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Repairing the harm: Toward an algorithmic reparations approach to hate speech content moderation

Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin

Big Data & Society, issue April-June (2024), 13 pp.

"Content moderation algorithms influence how users understand and engage with social media platforms. However, when identifying hate speech, these automated systems often contain biases that can silence or further harm marginalized users. Recently, scholars have offered both restorative and transfor ... more

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How to enhance constructive public dialogue on social media in Uganda: Recommendations from a multi-stakeholder consultation workshop, in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2023

Bonn: Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2024), 16 pp.

"In November 2023, DW Akademie brought together journalists, civil society organizations, digital rights experts, and media influencers for a consultation workshop in Kampala, Uganda. In the two-day event, hosted by Media Challenge Initiative (MCI), the diverse group collaboratively developed recomm ... more

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Introduction to Digital Humanism: A Textbook
Deep Insights

Hannes Werthner, Carlo Ghezzi, Jeff Kramer, Julian Nida-Rümelin, Bashar Nuseibeh, Erich Prem, Allison Stanger (eds.)

Cham: Springer Nature (2024), 637 pp.

"This open access textbook introduces and defines digital humanism from a diverse range of disciplines. Following the 2019 Vienna Manifesto, the book calls for a digital humanism that describes, analyzes, and, most importantly, influences the complex interplay of technology and humankind, for a bett ... more

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Designing for justice in freelancing: Testing platform interventions to minimise discrimination in online labour markets

Sian Brooke, Aliya Hamid Rao

Big Data & Society (2024), 19 pp.

"Online labour markets (OLMs) are a vital source of income for globally diverse and dispersed freelancers. Despite their promise of neutrality, OLMs are known to perpetuate hiring discrimination, vested in how OLMs are designed and what kinds of interactions they enable between freelancers and hirer ... more

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Community Stewards and Social Cohesion in Digital Spaces

Search for Common Ground (2023), 27 pp.

"[...] There are 70 million individuals who are administrators of Facebook groups. Many more coordinate groups across other platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal, and others, which are often run on mobile devices - with a global user base of 5.34 billion unique mobile users. Group administrators and mo ... derators act as “community stewards.” They are individuals in charge of reviewing user-generated content to ensure users adhere to rules, regulations, and community standards of social media platforms. They hold tremendous influence over the experience of their users, but they often step into these roles without fully understanding the scope of responsibilities they are taking on. Many community stewards describe their role as a “labor of love,” representing a substantial opportunity to catalyze large-scale, positive social change across societies. Yet, they face many challenges. Stewards cite myriad challenges, risks, rewards, and opportunities they face in managing their online groups and pages. This report focuses on the role of community stewards in promoting healthier relationships in their online and digital groups in conflict-affected and fragile countries. There is growing evidence of the societal impacts stewards are driving through their platforms, such as mobilizing aid during crises, raising awareness on important issues, and fostering solutions to community challenges. Given their unique reach, influence, and trust, community stewards hold great potential to not only mobilize positive social change, but also to foster connection and belonging in a way that positively transforms relationships and disrupts the toxic polarization that divides societies and fuels violence. The potential of community stewards is clear; it is less clear how civil society, the private sector, governments, and others can best support and scale up this potential. Understanding the needs and incentives of community stewards to proactively use their roles for building healthier online (and offline) communities can help build on what works. Understanding the barriers and challenges they face in doing so, will serve as critical entry points for mobilizing the right support to stewards. This report looks to uncover the barriers and opportunities that stewards face in their efforts to build healthier and safer online communities in conflict-affected and fragile places." (Introduction) more

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Social Media Platforms and Challenges for Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights

Beatriz Botero Arcila, Rachel Griffin

Brussels: European Parliament, Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs (2023), 151 pp.

"This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, examines risks that contemporary social media - focusing in particular on the most widely-used platforms - present for democracy, the rul ... more

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State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2023. A Decade of Internet Freedom in Africa: Recounting the Past, Shaping the Future

CIPESA (2023), 71 pp.

"This special edition honours the efforts of various state and non-state actors in the promotion of internet freedom in Africa. The report takes a deep dive into the dynamic landscape of internet freedom on the African continent and offers contextual information and evidence to inform ICT policymaki ... more

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The Propagation of Misinformation in Social Media: A Cross-Platform Analysis

Richard Rogers (ed.)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2023), 246 pp.

"In a cross-platform analysis of Google Web Search, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, 4chan and TikTok, we found that hyperpartisan web operators, alternative influencers and ambivalent commentators are in ascendency. The book can be read as a form of platform criticism. It puts on disp ... more

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WhatsApp and Transparency: An Analysis on the Effects of Digital Platforms’ Opacity in Political Communication Research Agendas in Brazil

Viktor Chagas, Gabriella Da-Costa

Profesional de la Información, volume 32, issue 2 (2023), 14 pp.

"This article aims to discuss what we call environmental opacity, a condition of mobile instant messaging services (MIMS) that operates on the basis of end-to-end encryption systems. Utilizing WhatsApp as a specific example, the article presents two fundamental dilemmas around which some issues conc ... more

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Challenges and Perspectives of Hate Speech Research
Deep Insights

Christian Strippel, Sünje Paasch-Colberg, Martin Emmer, Joachim Trebbe (eds.)

Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin, Institute for Media and Communication Studies (2023), 482 pp.

"This book is the result of a conference that could not take place. It is a collection of 26 texts that address and discuss the latest developments in international hate speech research from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. This includes case studies from Brazil, Lebanon, Poland, Nigeria, ... more

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Censorship from Plato to Social Media: The Complexity of Social Media's Content Regulation and Moderation Practices

Gergely Gosztonyi

Cham: Springer (2023), xiv, 189 pp.

"In many countries, censorship, blocking of internet access and internet content for political purposes are still part of everyday life. Will filtering, blocking, and hacking replace scissors and black ink? This book argues that only a broader understanding of censorship can effectively protect free ... more

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Case law on content moderation and freedom of expression

Erik Tuchtfeld

New York: Columbia University, Global Freedom of Expression (2023), 23 pp.

Introduction to Digital Humanism: A Textbook Deep Insights

Challenges and Perspectives of Hate Speech Research Deep Insights

Introduction to Digital Humanism: A Textbook
Deep Insights

Challenges and Perspectives of Hate Speech Research
Deep Insights