{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T04:14:02Z","timestamp":1782792842849,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":68,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,5]],"date-time":"2022-04-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649116800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,5]],"date-time":"2022-04-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1649116800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Who governs\u2014and who should govern\u2014online communication? Social media companies, international organizations, users, or the state? And by what means? A range of rhetorical devices have been used to simplify the complexities associated with the governance of online platforms. This includes \u201cconstitutional metaphors\u201d: metaphorical allusions to traditional political concepts such as statehood, democracy, and constitutionalism. Here, we empirically trace the ascent of a powerful constitutional metaphor currently employed in the news media discourse on platform governance: characterizations of Facebook\u2019s Oversight Board (OB) as a \u201csupreme court.\u201d We investigate the metaphor\u2019s descriptive suitability and question its normative and political ramifications. We argue that uncritical characterizations of the OB as Facebook\u2019s \u201csupreme court\u201d obscure its true scope and purpose. In addition, we argue that appropriating the socio-cultural symbolism and hence political legitimacy of a supreme court and mapping it onto a different type of actor poses a threat to responsible platform governance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14614448221085559","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,5]],"date-time":"2022-04-05T05:53:37Z","timestamp":1649138017000},"page":"2448-2472","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["Constitutional metaphors: Facebook\u2019s \u201csupreme court\u201d and the legitimation of platform governance"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8545-5068","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Josh","family":"Cowls","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Oxford, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Philipp","family":"Darius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Digital Governance, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1526-5960","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dominiquo","family":"Santistevan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Chicago, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Moritz","family":"Schramm","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_5_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Arun C (2021) Facebook\u2019s faces. 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