The Platform Governance Archive (PGA) is a data repository and platform that collects and curates policies of major social media platforms in a long-term perspective. When have YouTube and Instagram introduced hate speech policies? How have misinformation policies changed over time? With the help of the archive, researchers, journalists and the public can answer their questions on how platforms order and govern communication and interaction in our societies, and hold those powerful new institutions accountable.
Data
Explore and download the PGA datasets.
Explore
Explore the historical dataset in an interactive visualisation with timelines of changes.
Research
Explore existing research on platform policies based on PGA data and beyond.
The PGA is hosted by Lab Platform Governance, Media, and Technology at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen and led by Christian Katzenbach. We collaborate with the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), the University of Groningen, and Open Terms Archive for the curation and collection of the policies.
» About PGA
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Meta to label AI generated content on Facebook, Instagram and Threads
Meta · Community Guidelines · February 12, 2024 Meta expands their misinformation policies for Facebook, Instagram and Threads to cover AI generated content. The updated Community Guidelines now include a subsection for “Content Digitally Created or Altered that May Mislead”. The company promises to create informative labels for artificially produced content that creates a particularly…
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Meta redefines glorification of dangerous entities
Meta ‧ Community Guidelines · January 11, 2024 On 11 January, Meta updated the section of its Community Guidelines that outlines the principles for the treatment of dangerous organizations and individuals. Namely, the platform has changed the description of the policy rationale as well as the definition of the glorification of dangerous entities that included…
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End of Year Frenzy at Meta: Multiple changes to Facebook’s and Instagram’s Community Guidelines
In the final weeks of 2023, major social media platforms have made a range of changes to their Community Guidelines. This peak of policy changes represents the highest period of activity registered by the Platform Governance Archive in the last year. The following blog post gives an overview of the changes that were picked up…
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X (formerly Twitter) softens its violent speech policy
On the 25th of October 2023, the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, made changes in their global Community Guidelines policy. According to the Platform Governance Archive, a data depository which automatically tracks policy changes on 18 platforms, X significantly softened its violent speech policy. In 2023, violent speech is defined by X (and…
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Meta changes its policy on sadistic imagery and violence as the Israeli–Palestinian conflict escalates
Meta · Community Guidelines · 17 October, 2023 *The following post may contain explicit language and content that could be distressing to some readers On October 17, Instagram and Facebook changed their Community Guidelines to specifically prohibit sadistic posts containing imagery of deceased babies. While before the corresponding policy section forbade the posting of “sadistic…
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Re-Launch of Platform Governance Archive (PGA): Datasets, downloads and data paper, new website and collaboration with OTA
The Lab Platform Governance, Media and Technology (PGMT) at the ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, and the Alexander von Humboldt Institut for Internet and Society (HIIG) launch this week an updated version of its pioneering open-access repository of platform policies, the Platform Governance Archive (PGA). The extensive update includes the launch of…
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YouTube now permitting misinformation about US elections
YouTube ‧ Community Guidelines · June 2, 2023 YouTube changed its guidelines now allowing false claims regarding the 2020 and other past US presidential elections on their site. An updated YouTube elections misinformation policy implies that the platform will no longer remove false information about any past US presidential election, including claims about widespread fraud, errors, or glitches as…