Perceived inconsistency of enforcement undercuts the legitimacy of platform rules.

Evidence

It also bred suspicion about Facebook and its motivations. It was easy to imagine, especially as these women found their way into breastfeeding discussion groups and encountered others who faced similar penalties, that Facebook was deliberately targeting breastfeeding women, and these groups in particular. What did Facebook have against breastfeeding? News of each removal or suspension seemed to suggest a concerted effort whether one existed or not. At the same time, being in a group that circulates breastfeeding images, these users saw clearly how inconsistent the sanctions were, as they watched photo after photo similar to their own not being taken down. In these groups, women debated why one photo crossed a line and the next one in the series did not, or why one photo would be removed from a breastfeeding group where countless other similar photos remained. This perceived inconsistency undercut the legitimacy of Facebook’s efforts, as they did not seem to represent a comprehensible standard. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Generalizes the book’s ch4 point about flag interfaces into a legitimacy failure mechanism. — connects to: Platform rules are retroactive tombstones marking past public controversies — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 218