Banning, Blocking and Boosting: Twitter’s Solo-Regulation of Expression

Abstract

The regulation or self-regulation of online media is one of the key dilemmas of contemporary digital media and policy environment. This includes the new digital intermediary gatekeepers such as social media. The private rules of intermediaries, such as their ‘terms of service’ and content policies, importantly define their functioning and are sometimes thought of as self-regulatory mechanisms. Online intermediaries are increasingly being called upon to engage in codes of conduct or decisions about content. We focus on Twitter as one of the largest and most relevant new gatekeepers because of its use as source of news. The terms and other documents of Twitter are analysed as tools of self-regulation, and as the context within which the individual users and mass media (must) function in today’s digital environment. We also look at how Twitter has applied this framework in two high profile cases.