But it is also highly applicable to other platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. It will enable researchers to identify pressures and patterns motivating platform design change in the future. 4/4

Together, these strategies form a process that we call adaptive governance: the process of strategic, platform-directed design change in response to internal and external stakeholders. We test our novel framework in the case of Twitch. 3/4

Via capture, a digital platform introduces features that take over functions produced by users. Via imitation, platforms mimic the functionalities of other digital platforms. Via alignment, they implement features because users demand it. 2/4

By using liberal language, they disguise their strategies as they promote multilateral cooperation. We show that the role of autocracies in multilateralism is one of hollowing out the system from within. We demonstrate our framework in the field of internet governance.

Second, autocracies attempt to exclude non-state actors from international debates by advocating for one-country-one-vote principles. In combination, autocracies promote a form of multilateralism that is both substantively and procedurally hollow.

Autocracies achieve hollow multilateralism via two strategies. First, autocracies promote shallow international standards of international law that do not include a commitment to implementation.

I will be working with Co-Investigator @tomokotkhsh.bsky.social on the role of China in 'democratizing' global governance. With @debremaria.bsky.social, I will be writing a book manuscript that brings qualitative and quantitative research designs together in a comprehensive framework.

I argue that this type of multilateralism is hollow: the promotion of multilateralism by authoritarian regimes is a fig leaf to use the rules and principles of the liberal international order to hollow out the system from within

Congratulations! Happy it’s out!

If you're interested in this topic, consider submitting to the #ecprgc25 section 'Internet and Politics in the AI era' (S31) chaired by Gabriela Borz and co-chaired by Ramón Villaplana and myself. We are looking to fill three panels on internet freedom. @ecpr.bsky.social ecpr.eu/Events/Event...

Acabestie @drbrandonharris.bsky.social (along with Andrew Wilson & Danielle Flonk) promise a provoking final #NCACreatorPrecon presentation on shitposting and trolling. (This shitposting scholar is selfishly excited!) #NCA2024