Potentials of small platforms: What can we learn from them?

The academic and public discourse on platforms focuses mainly on the industry’s major digital sites, which are therefore the target of regulatory activities (such as the Digital Services Act, or DSA, at the EU level). What is lacking, however, is a debate about platforms that goes beyond Facebook, TikTok and the like. It is worth taking a look at smaller platforms, since not only is it easier to observe how content is moderated there, such sites are also exciting and promising spaces for experimentation when it comes to democratic innovations in platform governance. 

Yet which platforms are considered “small”? To date, there has been no systematic and comprehensive survey comparing small and medium-sized sites. Yet it makes sense to look at smaller platforms, sincethey are where new, creative, customer-centred and inclusive approaches to responsible content moderation can be found. For example, unconventional and community-based methods of moderation and rule enforcement exist that promise a fair and more democratic balance between the freedom of speech of as many participants as possible, on the one hand, and the interests of platform operators, on the other.