Abstract
With the rise of decentralized social media platforms like Mastodon and BlueSky, proponents often argue that the decentralized nature of these platforms enables more fair and transparent moderation decisions that avoid relying on bias for their ground. On this view, the platform is treated as agnostic, while the moderation activities themselves are treated as biased. In contrast, I argue that moderation on social media platforms is itself already biased, and structured based on the dominant norms of western society. Insofar as this is the case, the normative whiteness of decentralized platforms allows the platform to maintain exclusionary practices through how it circulates race as affect. To demonstrate this point, this paper will draw upon Sara Ahmed’s theory of affective economies to present the ways in which social media platforms are structured around whiteness and serve to enable the extension of white bodies through space and the normalization of white conduct in online environments. This paper concludes by challenging the possibility of any “neutral” social media environment and recommends the development of user and moderator awareness of the affective organization of social media around whiteness as a preliminary step towards resolving the ongoing tensions over content moderation online.
Presenters
Johnathan FlowersAssistant Professor, Philosophy, California State University Northridge, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Social Media, Moderation, Community Formation, Online Communities, Race, Gender, Sexuality
