When Transparency Falls Short: Auditing Platform Moderation During a High-Stakes Election

TL;DR

This study analyzes 1.58 billion moderation actions during the 2024 European elections to assess platform responsiveness and transparency, revealing limited adaptation and ongoing transparency concerns.

Contribution

First large-scale analysis of moderation data during a high-stakes election, highlighting the lack of significant strategic adaptation by platforms.

Findings

Platforms did not significantly change moderation patterns during elections.

Transparency and accountability concerns persist one year after the database launch.

Current self-regulatory approaches have limited effectiveness.

Abstract

During major political events, social media platforms encounter increased systemic risks. However, it is still unclear if and how they adjust their moderation practices in response. The Digital Services Act Transparency Database provides-for the first time-an opportunity to systematically examine content moderation at scale, allowing researchers and policymakers to evaluate platforms' compliance and effectiveness, especially at high-stakes times. Here we analyze 1.58 billion self-reported moderation actions by the eight largest social media platforms in Europe over an eight-month period surrounding the 2024 European Parliament elections. We found that platforms did not exhibit meaningful signs of adaptation in moderation strategies as their self-reported enforcement patterns did not change significantly around the elections. This raises questions about whether platforms made any concrete adjustments, or whether the structure of the database may have masked them. On top of that, we reveal that initial concerns regarding platforms' transparency and accountability still persist one year after the launch of the Transparency Database. Our findings highlight the limits of current self-regulatory approaches and point to the need for stronger enforcement and better data access mechanisms to ensure that online platforms meet their responsibilities in protecting the democratic processes.