Selective moderation fragments one platform into many divergent versions

Evidence

The moment Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was selectively hidden, Facebook was no longer one site but two, one with the page and one without—two Facebooks existing simultaneously and superimposed, but only one accessible to a given user. When the next moderation decision is made, around a different piece of questionable content and a different national audience, Facebook becomes fourfold. Facebook is really a multitude of Facebooks, appearing to be one public venue but in fact spun out in slightly different versions, theoretically in as many versions as there are users. And instead of the traditional moderation problem—an entire community confronted with a contentious piece of material that is offensive to some and is perceived as valuable to others—we have the curious new problem of being led to believe that we all have access to the same things when we do not. We are left unaware that others are seeing what we are not, and that others are not seeing what we are. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 592

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: This is the chapter’s core worry, stated at full force — the quiet evaporation of any shared public space of discourse as a stable object.
• XREF: connects to: Moderation is the essential commodity platforms actually sell to users — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 631; A platform’s structural position gives it privileged access to record interactions — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 46; Platform rules chain down a hierarchy of technical gatekeepers — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 233 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Platform rules chain down a hierarchy of technical gatekeepers #expands (0.75) — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 233
• A platform’s structural position gives it privileged access to record interactions #expands (0.72) — Nick Srnicek, Platform Capitalism, 46
• Organizations reduce complexity by converting many contingencies into one stable structure #expands (0.72) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 782