Richard Kuchta: Social media prioritises user retention over community regulation

Verbal attacks and hate speech are increasing online, especially when it comes to language against women. Experts have been calling for more regulations and expect social media platforms to act more responsibly. While social media platforms’ community standards explicitly state that they do not allow bullying and harassment, such content can openly be found. Our Richard Kuchta stated to RTVS, the national Slovak broadcaster, that what falls under violating community standards is unclear, and bans are merely applied in repeated cases of community standards violations as the platforms attempt to retain users from going elsewhere.

This interview is only available in Slovak.

Richard Kuchta is an Analyst on the ISD’s Digital Analysis Unit. He focuses on the research of elections, political communication online, hate-speech and disinformation.