The article is here; here is the Introduction:
Almost all platforms for user-generated content have written policies around what content they are and are not willing to host, even if these policies are not always public. Even platforms explicitly designed to host adult content, such as OnlyFans, have community guidelines. Of course, different platforms' content policies can differ widely in multiple regards. Platforms differ on everything from what content they do and do not allow, to how vigorously they enforce their rules, to the mechanisms for enforcement itself. Nevertheless, nearly all platforms have two sets of content criteria: one set of rules setting a minimum floor for what content the platform is willing to host at all, and a more rigorous set of rules defining standards for advertising content. Many social-media platforms also have additional criteria for what content they will actively recommend to users that differ from their more general standards of what content they are willing to host at all.
These differences, which exist in both policy and enforcement, create vastly different user experiences of content moderation in practice. This chapter will review the content-moderation policies and enforcement practices of Meta's Facebook platform, YouTube (owned by Google), TikTok, Reddit, and Zoom, focusing on four key areas of platforms' content-moderation policies and practices: the content policies as they are written, the context in which platforms say those rules will be enforced, the mechanisms they use for enforcement, and how platforms communicate enforcement decisions to users in different scenarios.
Platforms usually outline their content-moderation policies in their community guidelines or standards. These guideline documents are broad and usually have rules about what kinds of actions users can take on their platform and what content can be posted. These guideline documents often also describe the context in which rules will be enforced. Many platforms also provide information about the enforcement actions they may take against content that violates the rules. However, details about the consequences for users who post such content are typically sparse.
