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dc.rights.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.contributor.advisorAlinejad, Donya
dc.contributor.authorParve, Gerli
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-24T00:00:39Z
dc.date.available2022-06-24T00:00:39Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.identifier.urihttps://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/41665
dc.description.abstractPlatform governance is shaping the public discourse happening on social media platforms. Therefore, it is necessary to rethink platform governance by taking a critical look at the documents it is expressed through. There is a gap in such previous research that focuses on a specific platform and analyses critically the discourse within its governance document and this thesis aims to fill it. Social media platforms are privately owned public spaces where different actors have a key role in governing them. However, the governance by different actors has brought about a contestation among the power they hold and the extent of each of their agencies. More specifically, this thesis will look into Twitter and the power within its governance document, Twitter User Agreement, to learn how much agency is given to the user of the platform in governing the public conversation on Twitter. By looking at the platform governance of social media platforms as it is explained by Tarleton Gillespie throughout his work and using the co-governance lens offered by Robert Gorwa in 2019, this thesis adds new insight to the existing research on platform governance. Researchers have pointed to the shortcomings of the governance methods employed by platforms for many years by now and call for moving towards a more distributed responsibility and power amongst key actors are not new among experts on the topic. However, this thesis aims to contribute to the discussion on platform governance by looking at one of the most popular social media platforms to see whether any steps towards sharing the power of governing the platform with its users are evident in their actions. The choice of material to research for this thesis, therefore, came from the idea that a platform’s governance documents seem to be the most obvious place where such intentions should be expressed. For the aim of this research, critical discourse analysis was conducted. By taking a look at both the content of the User Agreement as well as its context — how a user is first introduced to it and where the document leads the reader through actions it encourages and affords — this research reveals just how little a user is empowered to do in governing the platform itself and the public discourse it hosts. While the document expresses attempts to share responsibility and provide users with knowledge about how moderation works on the platform, it lacks any encouragement for the users to take action as well. The document does not exhibit to drive acts of moderation or governance on the part of the user in the same way as the platform promises to moderate content on its own. Thus, this thesis concludes that co-governance is yet to be reached by Twitter through their User Agreement, as Twitter governs the conversation they host without inviting the user to join in the conversation over how exactly this is, should and could be done.
dc.description.sponsorshipUtrecht University
dc.language.isoEN
dc.subjectThis thesis is taking a critical look at platform governance by studying Twitter's governance document, Twitter User Agreement, to learn how much agency is given to the user of the platform in governing the public conversation on Twitter.
dc.titleUser Agency in Platform Governance: Critical Discourse Analysis of Twitter User Agreement
dc.type.contentMaster Thesis
dc.rights.accessrightsOpen Access
dc.subject.keywordsplatform governance, social media, Twitter User Agreement, user empowerment
dc.subject.courseuuNew Media and Digital Culture
dc.thesis.id4638


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