From Scalability to Subsidiarity in Addressing Online Harm

Abstract

Large social media platforms are generally designed for scalability—the ambition to increase in size without a fundamental change in form. This means that to address harm among users, they favor automated moderation wherever possible and typically apply a uniform set of rules. This article contrasts scalability with restorative and transformative justice approaches to harm, which are usually context-sensitive, relational, and individualized. We argue that subsidiarity—the principle that local social units should have meaningful autonomy within larger systems—might foster the balance between context and scale that is needed for improving responses to harm.