An Archive of Social Media Platforms’
Content Moderation and Legal Policies

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

  • Telegram expands cooperation with authorities beyond the scope of terrorism

    Telegram · Terms of Service, Privacy Policy · September 23, 2024 Instant messaging service Telegram updated its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to deter from using its platform for illegal activities. The changes allow Telegram to disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of users following a valid order “from the relevant judicial authorities that confirms you’re a suspect in…

  • Will the arrest of Telegram’s CEO in France have implications for platform regulation, in the EU and elsewhere? 

    Telegram · August 28, 2024 The arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO and owner, has sent shockwaves through Telegram’s user base and concerns about the current state of platform regulation in France, the EU, and globally.  On Monday, the Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris issued a press release providing additional context to the investigation, revealing charges…

  • PGA starts tracking Threads, Bluesky and Truth Social

    The Platform Governance Archive (PGA) is expanding its scope to track the policy changes of three new social media platforms: Threads, Bluesky, and Truth Social. The initiative aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and governance of these emerging platforms. Threads is an online social media and networking service launched on July 5,…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…