Between resistance and transparency: do digital platforms cooperate with electoral processes?

ABSTRACT

Introduction:  This article examines the lack of transparency in how digital platform companies moderate content and user accounts, focusing on their dealings with Brazil's electoral authorities over three election cycles, from 2018 to 2023.

Materials and methods:  The research draws on an analysis of documents from Meta, Google, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Spotify, Kwai, and LinkedIn, alongside interviews with key actors (employees from these platforms and officials from Brazil's Electoral Justice) to categorize the companies' responses to criticisms and pressures from electoral authorities, which fluctuate between strategies of resistance and compliance.

Results:  Strategies of resistance and compliance often operate hand-in-hand in the contentious governance of digital platforms. Our findings show that companies offer transparency in a gradual and selective manner, without allowing genuine public scrutiny. This underscores the limits and risks of the unequal relationship between companies and electoral authorities, emphasizing the urgent need for more effective regulation of digital platforms.

Discussion:  Our study emphasizes the importance of further exploring the asymmetry between digital platforms and government authorities, while proposing ideas for developing regulatory frameworks that enhance accountability and transparency in how platforms moderate content and manage user accounts.

Keywords
electoral integrity; digital platforms; content moderation; Superior Electoral Court; elections