Optimal social media content moderation and platform immunities

This article presents a model of the lawmakers’ choice between implementing a new content moderation regime that provides for platform liability for user-generated content versus continuing platform immunity for the same. The model demonstrates that lawmakers prefer platform immunity, even if incivility is increasing, if the costs of implementing a platform liability regime are greater than the costs of enforcing status quo law. In addition, inasmuch as implementation of a platform liability regime is coupled with new speech restrictions that are unconstitutional or prohibitively costly, lawmakers prefer immunity, but platforms are free to set strong content moderation policies consistent with existing law.