Research project Shaping the Online Public Sphere: How and Why do Democracies Regulate Social Media Platforms?

Democratic states are increasingly working to regulate public discourse on social media platforms, mirroring the platforms’ significance as extensions of the public sphere of democratic societies.  

Platforms can play a vital role in fostering open democratic debate but they also present challenges to democratic political systems, by spreading misinformation, hate speech, and extremist rhetoric. 

This project fills a gap in existing research by systematically studying efforts of democratic states to regulate what is published on social media platforms, what the actual effects of such efforts are on the digital public sphere and the extent to which regulations are normatively defensible.

The project is divided into three principal areas: 

First, it aims to explain when and why democratic states design particular regulatory frameworks for social media platforms. To do this the project engages in an ambitious data collection effort, covering democratic states, to systematically study national regulations. It combines quantitative and qualitative research methods to generate insights on both aggregate patterns and the complex processes explaining regulatory outcomes in particular cases. 

Second, the project examines to what extent and how national legislation shapes patterns of inclusion and exclusion of content and users on digital platforms, especially during contentious political episodes. 

Third, the project assesses the normative aspects of regulations. This assessment builds on and extends long-standing discussions in democratic theory, focusing on if and how it is legitimate for democracies to restrict democratic rights to address perceived anti-democratic challenges.