Content moderation, platform governance, and legitimacy: TikTok in South and Southeast Asia

Thesis

Global platform and speech governance navigate complex interactions between international and national laws, cultural norms, and political sensitivities that shape the boundaries of online expression. While research has extensively examined platform governance in established democracies, this thesis explores the understudied dynamics of online speech governance in less-than-democratic developing countries.

Situated at the intersection of international communication, platform governance, and human-computer interaction, the integrated thesis examines platformised speech governance in global contexts through the theoretical lens of legitimation. It analyses how TikTok, a user-generated content platform originating from China, interacts with local actors in South and Southeast Asia, focusing specifically on Indonesia and Pakistan, to address: how are the rules and norms that enable or constrain (online) public expression legitimised, and by whom?

Through controversy mapping and document analysis, the thesis first identifies contentious areas of borderline content across the region, revealing how governments' politicisation and TikTok's depoliticisation of moderation create accountability vacuums. In-depth expert interviews in Indonesia and Pakistan examine how platforms, states, and civil society organisations construct and communicate legitimacy claims with each other, highlighting complex negotiations between security imperatives, economic interests, and cultural values. Survey experiments explore how moderation decision-makers, procedural contestability, and outcome alignment influence users' legitimacy perceptions across different borderline content scenarios.

The findings demonstrate how context-sensitive analysis provides insights into the transformation of platformised public spheres within and across national contexts. The research sheds light on how global platforms navigate fragmented regulatory environments and respond to the prevailing political and cultural norms. The comparative approach underscores the challenges in balancing universal rights-based principles with local realities in algorithmically shaped, institutionally managed, and socially contested digital public spheres. The thesis thus informs normative principles guiding policymakers, industry practitioners, and civil society in pursuing inclusive speech governance responsive to evolving media landscapes and local complexities.

Authors: Liu, D

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-mpgea8zzo
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: social media; legitimacy; TikTok; majority world; platform governance; content moderation; algorithms
• Subjects: Sociology; Internet Studies; Political Economy; Human-Computer Interaction; Political Communication