Social Media Governance with Sudhir Venkatesh and Tracey Meares

Denizen

In this episode we discuss governance on social media platforms, an important topic given the enormous social consequences of our reliance on them. Our guests are Columbia sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh and Yale legal professor Tracey Meares. Sudhir and Tracy co-direct Yale's Social Media Governance Initiative, which is leading research in this field.

In this conversation, Jenny, Sudhir, and Tracey explore:

• What is governance? [2:50]
• Governance as a performance [5:28]
• Establishing norms [7:39]
• Where authority comes from [10:02]
• Parallels between criminal justice and social media governance [12:57]
• How to internalize rule following [13:45]
• Bad actors and Facebook [16:05]
• Designing for pro-social engagement [19:29]
• Challenges establishing channels of communication in tech companies [23:05]
• Pro-social objectives and incentive misalignment [30:00]
• Who are tech platforms accountable to? [37:48]
• International governance and local cultural norms [43:21]

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