Policy & Governance for Platform Reform

This unit examines policy, governance, and business-model reforms aimed at restoring healthier online ecosystems. Students evaluate legal and regulatory options, design accountable governance structures, and craft sustainable platform incentives that balance free expression, competition, child safety, and misinformation mitigation.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze case studies of platform harms (e.g., misinformation, Streisand effects, misleading warnings, hybrid reviews) to identify root causes, affected stakeholders, and policy vulnerabilities.
• Evaluate governance and legal reform proposals (e.g., Restoration Networking Constitution/Institute/Certification, Section 230 reform, antitrust, AI regulation) using criteria for effectiveness, enforceability, and constitutional impact.
• Demonstrate a sustainable platform policy and business-model prototype that integrates freemium strategies, ethical advertising, revenue sharing, third-party certification, and incentive mechanisms to reduce harmful incentives.
• Apply implementation and advocacy strategies to produce a policy brief or action plan that protects children, respects First Amendment concerns, ensures market competition, and specifies enforcement mechanisms (certifiers, penalties, user advisory boards).