Studying Networked Platform Governance: A Multi-Perspective Approach
Robyn Caplan
Platform companies, like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been repeatedly critiqued in the past for their unilateral approach to content governance, and their lack of transparency around the setting and enforcement of content policies. Their importance within the public sphere (van Dijck, 2012) has led scholars like Gillespie (2018) to “share the tools to govern collectively” (p. 212).
But there has been little research examining whether, and how, platforms acknowledge the dynamic relationship that often exists within these companies, with their users, and with those on the outside. Understanding these dynamics in the lens of networked governance (Sørenson & Torfing, 2005; Caplan, 2023) enables us to see the ways that interdependence – between platforms, users, governments, media, and other networked actors – shapes the regulation of expression.
This talk will be a reflection on Robyn Caplan’s multi-perspective approach to studying platforms, and will highlight the importance of triangulation when it comes to studying networked actors. This talk will give an overview of Caplan’s research (touching on research on platform personnel, media associations, online creators, civil society actors) and will explore the theoretical grounding of using multiple perspectives to study platforms.
Presenting Author
Robyn Caplan is an Assistant Professor of Tech Policy at Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and a Senior Lecturing Fellow at the Center for Science and Society. She is a research affiliate at Data & Society Research Institute, where she was a Senior Researcher studying media policy and platform governance.
About the Series
This talk is part of the series Behind the Scenes – Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research that invites scholars in this field to share their experiences and views, fostering community exchange about how we can study platform governance in this challenging context. It is hosted by the Lab “Platform Governance, Media, and Technology” (PGMT) at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen, and the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, University of Groningen.
Registration