Flagging as a silencing tool

Exploring the relationship between de-platforming of sex and online abuse on Instagram and TikTok

Bibliographic Data

ID6443512
AuthorsCarolina Are (0000-0003-1110-3155, Northumbria University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume27
Issue6
Pages3577-3595
Publication date2024-02-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Media & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/14614448241228544
OpenAlexW4391751785
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited34

This article investigates Instagram and TikTok’s approach to malicious flagging through users’ experience. Similar to liking, commenting and sharing, flagging is a reaction social media platforms allow users to highlight content that potentially violates community guidelines. However, flagging’s influence on moderation remains opaque: users who flag are largely unaware about the success of their reports; those who are de-platformed cannot be sure if or why their content has been reported, making them feel targeted not just by platforms’ processes, but by the retaliation of audiences themselves. Since the impact of de-platforming on users, and particularly on content creators who work through platforms, can be huge, this study provides scope to investigate flagging as an online abuse technique

Advertising · Business · Flagging · Internet privacy · Moderation · Scope (computer science · Social media · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · History · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access