The Role of Social Media Companies in Democratic Self-Defence Regimes

Social media platforms form central parts of the public sphere(s) in contemporary democratic societies, at the same as platform affordances fuel various attacks on democratic norms and processes, including far right mobilization, misinformation campaigns, hate speech and threats. This chapter analyses social media companies as increasingly important actors in supporting democratic self-defence through platform regulations that target such attacks. In particular, the analysis focus on 1) the development of governance by platforms as part of democratic self-defence regimes, 2) the democratic consequences of platform regulations that target anti-democratic threats and 3) the responses to the more recent increase in state regulations of platforms.