The way platforms currently conduct content moderation has been delegitimized, and new forms of governance will need to emerge to meet the demands of the moment. Semi-independent and transparent self-regulatory oversight mechanisms offer significant advantages. As the actors closest to the front line, platforms will always need to play a significant role in drawing lines for online speech, given the high-volume, fast-moving and context-dependent nature of the decisions involved. While these systems may never be able to provide the due process or transparency traditionally demanded in speech cases, they can significantly improve content moderation in several ways, including by providing a “judicial”-style check on platform decisions can improve platform policies and public reasoning that can create greater acceptance of rules in a pluralistic community where disagreement about the substance of those rules is inevitable.
