# Decentralizing Platform Power: A Design Space of Multi-level Governance in Online Social Platforms

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.12529 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.12529/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Aug 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

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- ["Just a strange pic": Evaluating 'safety' in GenAI Image safety annotation tasks from diverse annotators' perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.16033/) (2025)
- [PolicyPad: Collaborative Prototyping of LLM Policies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.19680/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Many have criticized the centralized and unaccountable governance of prominent online social platforms, leading to renewed interest in platform governance that incorporates multiple centers of power. Decentralization of power can arise horizontally, through parallel communities, each with local administration, and vertically, through multiple hierarchies of overlapping jurisdiction. Drawing from literature on federalism and polycentricity in analogous offline institutions, we scrutinize the landscape of existing platforms through the lens of multi-level governance. Our analysis describes how online platforms incorporate varying forms and degrees of decentralized governance. In particular, we propose a framework that characterizes the general design space and the various ways that middle levels of governance vary in how they can interact with a centralized governance system above and end users below. This focus provides a starting point for new lines of inquiry between platform- and community-governance scholarship. By engaging themes of decentralization, hierarchy, power, and responsibility, while discussing concrete examples, we connect designers and theorists of online spaces.