Free-speech platforms must advertise moderation while disavowing it

Evidence

The guidelines also make clear the central contradiction of moderation that platform creators must attempt to reconcile, but never quite can. If social media platforms were ever intended to embody the freedom of the web, then constraints of any kind run counter to these ideals, and moderation must be constantly disavowed. Yet if platforms are supposed to offer anything better than the chaos of the open web, then oversight is central to that offer—moderation is the key commodity, and must be advertised in the most appealing terms. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 154

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Platform secrecy frames curated content as naturally occurring rather than selected. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 370; Platform moderation evolves through public negotiation rather than fixed rule enforcement. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 516