The emotional and financial impact of de-platforming on creators at the margins

Are, Carolina and Briggs, Pamela (2023) The emotional and financial impact of de-platforming on creators at the margins. Social Media + Society, 9 (1). p. 205630512311551. ISSN 2056-3051

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231155103

Abstract

This study provides one of the first examples of de-platforming’s direct emotional and financial impact on Instagram and TikTok content creators at the margins. Both platforms provide significant opportunities toward creative and flexible work, allowing creators to maintain networks, promote work, express themselves and earn a living. However, their governance can severely disrupt certain forms of content creation, particularly for users who post online sex work and nude content. Through a qualitative survey, we gathered the experiences of 123 de-platformed Instagram and TikTok users who posted nude or sex work-related content. Our study provides crucial testimonies showing that the precarity of creator labor and platforms’ reliance on automated content moderation have negatively impacted creators’ well-being. Participants faced adverse psychological impacts resulting from job and income uncertainty, associated feelings of powerlessness, a loss of digital identity, and enforced isolation from a previously established social network. We conclude by providing platform governance recommendations based on these experiences.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by Research Councils UK > Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/P011454/1.
Uncontrolled Keywords: de-platforming, content moderation, platform governance, Instagram, TikTok, online sex work
Subjects: C800 Psychology
P900 Others in Mass Communications and Documentation
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 26 Jan 2023 15:02
Last Modified: 08 Mar 2023 11:15
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/51249

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