Evaluating the effectiveness of platform unplatforming as a moderation strategy on Twitter.

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction Volume 5 CSCW2 October 2021 Article number: 381 pp 1-30 https://doi.org/10.1145/3479525

Commentary

Platform unbanning refers to the permanent banning of controversial public figures with a large number of followers on social media sites.

In recent years, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have lifted the platforms of many influencers in order to curb the spread of malicious expression.

This review presents case studies of three prominent influencers whose platforms were lifted by Twitter.

Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, and OwenBenjamin.

After processing over 49 million tweets, we found that disarming the platform significantly reduced the number of conversations about all three on Twitter.

Furthermore, an analysis of the overall Twitter activity of supporters of these　influencers showed that overall activity and toxicity levels of supporters decreased after disengaging from the platform.