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136 Harv. L. Rev. 526 (2022-2023)
Content Moderation as Systems Thinking

handle is hein.journals/hlr136 and id is 537 raw text is: VOLUME 136 DECEMBER 2022 NUMBER 2 HARVARD LAW REVIEW © 2022 by The Harvard Law Review Association ARTICLES CONTENT MODERATION AS SYSTEMS THINKING Evelyn Douek CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................528 I. THE STANDARD PICTURE OF CONTENT MODERATION...............................................535 II. THE STANDARD PICTURE'S BLIND SPOTS ......................................................................539 A. Content Moderation Bureaucracies Are a They Not an It ............................539 i. Non-Content-Based Content Moderation................................................................539 2. Cross-Platform and Government Cooperation........................................................542 3. Delegated Decisionmaking .........................................................................................543 4. Design and Affordances..............................................................................................545 B. Content Moderation Is All About Tradeoffs .............................................................548 i. Error Choices: False Positives Versus False Negatives......................................548 2. Gatekeeping Versus User Control.............................................................................552 3. Procedural Justice and Legitimacy Tradeoffs at Scale...........................................553 4. Consistency Versus Contextual Decisionmaking.....................................................554 C. The Standard Picture's Mistaken Assumptions--------------------------..............................556 i. Speech Is Not So Special............................................................................................556 2. Ex Post Review Can Be Systemic.............................................................................563 3. The Pursuit of Perfectibility Is Misguided...............................................................564 III. MISGUIDED REFORM EFFORTS BASED ON THE STANDARD PICTURE .................564 A. The Standard Picture's Influence-----------------------------------------------....................................565 B. The Futility and Failures of Individualized Ex Post Review------------...................568 i. Individual Errors Are Poor Vehicles for Identifying Systemic Failures ..............569 2. Case-by-Case Review Provides Inadequate Remedies...........................................571 3. Transparency Theater.................................................................................................572 4. Process Theater............................................................................................................577 IV. SECOND WAVE CONTENT MODERATION INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN ......................584 A. Structural Mandates........................................................................................................586 i. Separation of Functions..............................................................................................586 2. Complaints Mechanisms.............................................................................................589 526

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