The Lab “Platform Governance, Media, and Technology” (PGMT) does research, teaching and knowledge transfer at the intersection of governance, digital communication and new technologies. We are particularly interested in platforms and their governance, as well the discursive, political and technological construction of “artificial intelligence” (AI). This website is to showcase a repertoire of our activities. Please also visit our official page at our home institution, the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen.
Research
The PGMT Lab does research, teaching and knowledge transfer at the intersection of governance, digital communication and new technologies.
Online Talk Series
We are hosting a monthly online conversation on empirical research on platform governance. Each session consists of a short input talk by a scholar, followed by ample time for discussions and exchange.
Platform Governance Archive
We are hosting the Platform Governance Archive (PGA) – a longitudinal data repository and interface on social media platforms’ policies and content moderations guidelines.
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End of Year Frenzy at Meta: Multiple changes to Facebook’s and Instagram’s Community Guidelines
In the final weeks of 2023, major social media platforms have made a range of changes to their Community Guidelines. This peak of policy changes represents the highest period of activity registered by the Platform Governance Archive in the last year. The following blog post gives an overview of the changes that were picked up…
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PGMT member presents two papers at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Member of ZeMKI and the PGMT Lab Dr. Dennis Redeker presented two papers at the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. The centre and the university are a close partner of ZeMKI and the University of Bremen respectively and Dennis had been invited by Professor Marianne Franklin to present two papers in Groningen on…
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One Day in Content Moderation: Analyzing 24 h of Social Media Platforms’ Content Decisions through the DSA Transparency Database
We have examined one day of content moderation by social media platforms in the EU. This report examines how social media platforms moderated user content over a single day. It analyzes whether decisions were automated or manual, the visibility measures applied, and which content categories were most subject to moderation by specific platforms on that…
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Interdisciplinary Erasmus+ blended-intensive programme a success
More than 20 students and ten instructors from universities across Europe spent a week in beautiful Padova for the final phase and highlight of their Erasmus+ “blended-intensive programme” (BIP). The in-person component of the BIP “Digital Constitutionalism and Platform Governance” took place in late September at the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies…
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Platforms overwhelmingly use automated content moderation, first DSA transparency reports show
November 6th 2023 was the first deadline for platforms categorised as “Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs)” by the EU to deliver their transparency reports. The EU’s new Digital Services Act (DSA) demands VLOPs to publish these twice a year, containing standardized information about the number of users and aggregated numbers of content moderation decisions taken…
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Social media governance discussion with three Georgian legal scholars
On 2 November 2023, at Haus der Wissenschaft, three guest speakers from Georgia participated in a public panel discussion with host and PGMT member Dr. Dennis Redeker. The two-hour session was moderated by PGMT member Vasilisa Kuznetsova. The public event under the auspices of ZeMKI, University of Bremen, included a lively discussion with a small…
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X (formerly Twitter) softens its violent speech policy
On the 25th of October 2023, the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, made changes in their global Community Guidelines policy. According to the Platform Governance Archive, a data depository which automatically tracks policy changes on 18 platforms, X significantly softened its violent speech policy. In 2023, violent speech is defined by X (and…
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Public panel discussion on social media governance in Georgia and beyond
On Thursday, 02 November 2023, Member of the ZeMKI’s Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab Dr. Dennis Redeker convenes a panel discussion entitled “Building Trust in the Digital Age: How to fight hate and misinformation on social media – in Georgia and beyond”. The public event will take place at 17:00-19:00h at Haus der Wissenschaft…
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Meta changes its policy on sadistic imagery and violence as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict escalates
Meta · Community Guidelines · 17 October, 2023 *The following post may contain explicit language and content that could be distressing to some readers On October 17, Instagram and Facebook changed their Community Guidelines to specifically prohibit sadistic posts containing imagery of deceased babies. While before the corresponding policy section forbade the posting of “sadistic…
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PGMT member presents at the UN IGF in Kyoto
Member of ZeMKI and the Platform Governance, Media, and Technology Lab, Dr. Dennis Redeker, attends the 2023 United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Kyoto, Japan to conduct research and present research and teaching activities. In Japan, Dennis pursues background conversations, individual interviews and focus group interviews with stakeholders in the UN Global Digital Compact consultation and negotiation processes. This research is part…