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      Content moderation on social media: constructing accountability in the digital space

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      Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
      Emerald

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          Abstract

          Purpose

          The paper examines the content moderation practices and related public disclosures of the World's most popular social media organizations (SMOs). It seeks to understand how content moderation operates as a process of accountability to shape and inform how users (inter)act on social media and how SMOs account for these practices.

          Design/methodology/approach

          Content analysis of the content moderation practices for selected SMOs was conducted using a range of publicly available data. Drawing on seminal accountability studies and the concepts of hierarchical and holistic accountability, the authors investigate the design and appearance of the systems of accountability that seek to guide how users create and share content on social media.

          Findings

          The paper unpacks the four-stage process of content moderation enacted by the World's largest SMOs. The findings suggest that while social media accountability may allow SMOs to control the content shared on their platforms, it may struggle to condition user behavior. This argument is built around the limitations the authors found in the way performance expectations are communicated to users, the nature of the dialogue that manifests between SMOs and users who are “held to account”, and the metrics drawn upon to determine the effectiveness of SMOs content moderation activities.

          Originality/value

          This is the first paper to examine the content moderation practices of the World's largest SMOs. Doing so extends understanding of the forms of accountability that function in the digital space. Crucial future research opportunities are highlighted to provoke and guide debate in this research area of escalating importance.

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          Most cited references53

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          Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research: Notes on the Gioia Methodology

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            I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience

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              Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
                AAAJ
                Emerald
                0951-3574
                May 15 2023
                January 04 2024
                May 15 2023
                January 04 2024
                : 37
                : 1
                : 257-279
                Article
                10.1108/AAAJ-11-2022-6119
                6de5e554-f41d-44e1-b1ca-f20ff8b6f6ee
                © 2024

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