Technology Stacks, Content Moderation, and the Far-Right: A Multilevel Approach to Effective Deplatforming of Extremist Groups
Open AccessThis paper proposes a new theoretical model to social media deplatforming that takes into account the role of the technology stack in internet content moderation. Any action that either a government body or technology takes to regulate the content that appears on internet is known as content moderation. I argue that when deplatforming occurs at multiple layers of the technology stack, referred to as a stack cascade, there is a greater likelihood that users who violate the terms and conditions of mainstream social media platforms will not be able to migrate to less regulated corners of the internet. To do this, I use cross-platform migration data from the QAnon and Stop the Steal (StS) conspiracy movements across Twitter, Reddit, Parler, and Gab to demonstrate how a multilayered approach to deplatforming presents an effective gatekeeping approach to curbing the spread of extremist movements. The analysis presented here shows that content moderation at the platform level largely works, with moderation efforts occurring at deeper levels of the tech stack acting as further reinforcement to these surface level tactics. In addition, this analysis emphasizes the increased resiliency afforded to extremist movements by the rise of alternative technology ecosystems (alt-tech). This research draws on existing studies of social movements, political communication, and information communication technologies to introduce a new model of analysis for internet content moderation.
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