Ideology and free speech values predict content moderation preferences: cross-national evidence across targets of hate speech
Yannis Theocharis, Spyros Kosmidis, Jan Zilinsky, Friederike Quint · 2026
Read Ideology and free speech values predict content moderation preferences: cross-national evidence across targets of hate speech by Yannis Theocharis, Spyros Kosmidis, Jan Zilinsky, Friederike Quint (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13279812.txt.
Description
Yannis Theocharis and colleagues report a 2026 cross national study of content moderation views on social media. More than four billion people use social media each day, so platform calls on hate speech shape public talk and well being. Participants in ten countries saw a standard hate post drawn from X platform guide text. Target identity was varied by the design. The team ask who backs removal or suspension.
Exposure to the hate post sparked broad back for action, with small shifts by target type. Country gaps ran large. The United States showed lower back for moderation than peers like France, Brazil and South Africa. In most countries, right leaning people backed removal less than left leaning people. Values on free speech versus harm prevention shaped views in all contexts. Platform rules land on split publics, so one rule set will please few in full.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Yannis Theocharis, Spyros Kosmidis, Jan Zilinsky, Friederike Quint |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45370 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |