A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media

The information influence of Russia’s state-controlled media outlets such as RT and Sputnik on global multimillion audiences has been one of the major concerns for Western democracies and Ukraine in the last decade. With the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, they were recog...

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Main Authors: Sofya Glazunova, Anna Ryzhova, Axel Bruns, Silvia Ximena Montaña-Niño, Arista Beseler, Ehsan Dehghan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society 2023-06-01
Series:Internet Policy Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://policyreview.info/node/1711
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author Sofya Glazunova
Anna Ryzhova
Axel Bruns
Silvia Ximena Montaña-Niño
Arista Beseler
Ehsan Dehghan
author_facet Sofya Glazunova
Anna Ryzhova
Axel Bruns
Silvia Ximena Montaña-Niño
Arista Beseler
Ehsan Dehghan
author_sort Sofya Glazunova
collection DOAJ
description The information influence of Russia’s state-controlled media outlets such as RT and Sputnik on global multimillion audiences has been one of the major concerns for Western democracies and Ukraine in the last decade. With the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, they were recognised as a threat to international security and several major bans were implemented towards RT and Sputnik, including their ban in the EU and its member states, and non-EU countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia, and reinforced content moderation by digital platforms globally. Digital platforms had to step up as new arbitrators of digital public spheres in this crisis event, which led us to question how major digital platforms (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram) have implemented their content moderation policies towards RT and Sputnik accounts following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, across ten countries. We present a platform policy implementation audit method to analyse such content moderation measures, and demonstrate its implementation by six coders after two months of the full-scale invasion. Our audit shows largely inconsistent trends in platform policy implementation towards RT and Sputnik, as well as a wide catalogue of measures taken by tech giants. We conclude with a discussion of the further implications and effectiveness of such content moderation measures for global digital audiences.
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spelling doaj-art-e2e9b11cc85b46f9be6b3b597facd1092025-08-20T02:46:39ZengAlexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and SocietyInternet Policy Review2197-67752023-06-0112210.14763/2023.2.1711A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled mediaSofya Glazunova0Anna Ryzhova1Axel Bruns2Silvia Ximena Montaña-Niño3Arista Beseler4Ehsan Dehghan5Queensland University of TechnologyUniversity of PassauQueensland University of TechnologyQueensland University of TechnologyUniversity of PassauQueensland University of TechnologyThe information influence of Russia’s state-controlled media outlets such as RT and Sputnik on global multimillion audiences has been one of the major concerns for Western democracies and Ukraine in the last decade. With the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, they were recognised as a threat to international security and several major bans were implemented towards RT and Sputnik, including their ban in the EU and its member states, and non-EU countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia, and reinforced content moderation by digital platforms globally. Digital platforms had to step up as new arbitrators of digital public spheres in this crisis event, which led us to question how major digital platforms (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Telegram) have implemented their content moderation policies towards RT and Sputnik accounts following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, across ten countries. We present a platform policy implementation audit method to analyse such content moderation measures, and demonstrate its implementation by six coders after two months of the full-scale invasion. Our audit shows largely inconsistent trends in platform policy implementation towards RT and Sputnik, as well as a wide catalogue of measures taken by tech giants. We conclude with a discussion of the further implications and effectiveness of such content moderation measures for global digital audiences.https://policyreview.info/node/1711Platform policiesContent moderationRussiaPolicy auditDigital platforms
spellingShingle Sofya Glazunova
Anna Ryzhova
Axel Bruns
Silvia Ximena Montaña-Niño
Arista Beseler
Ehsan Dehghan
A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
Internet Policy Review
Platform policies
Content moderation
Russia
Policy audit
Digital platforms
title A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
title_full A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
title_fullStr A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
title_full_unstemmed A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
title_short A platform policy implementation audit of actions against Russia’s state-controlled media
title_sort platform policy implementation audit of actions against russia s state controlled media
topic Platform policies
Content moderation
Russia
Policy audit
Digital platforms
url https://policyreview.info/node/1711
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