Building upon previous studies that divide the governance of digital platforms into three eras (Flew, 2021; Bowers & Zittrain, 2020), this study investigates how one of the most influential digital platforms, Google, has handled removal requests from governments. By sketching the regulatory terrain of Google, the current study seeks a more balanced understanding of content moderation. This study selected an exploratory case study approach using Google's Transparency reports and accompanying public data sets relating to governments' content removal requests filed for all Google products from 2009 to 2021. The findings reveal a growing influence of nation states on moderating online content, delineating the surging point as occurring in 2016. In addition to the sheer increase of take-down requests raised in various areas, since 2016 the trend of government interventions has outpaced those of courts; during the same period, Google, which had been more compliant with court decisions than with governmental entities' requests, showed similar compliance with government requests. The results also demonstrate how the practices of requesting content removal differed by political system while singling out Russia's distinctive characteristics. This study sheds light on our understanding of the role of nation states in shaping online environments in the era of platformization.

中文翻译：

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民族国家在在线内容治理中角色的变化：以谷歌处理政府删除请求为例

基于之前将数字平台治理分为三个时代的研究（Flew，2021；Bowers & Zittrain，2020），本研究调查了最具影响力的数字平台之一 Google 如何处理政府的删除请求。通过勾画谷歌的监管领域，当前的研究寻求对内容审核有更平衡的理解。本研究选择了一种探索性案例研究方法，使用谷歌的透明度报告和随附的公共数据集，这些数据集涉及政府对 2009 年至 2021 年所有谷歌产品提出的内容删除请求。研究结果揭示了民族国家在管理在线内容方面的影响力越来越大，描绘了激增点出现在 2016 年。除了各个领域提出的删除请求大幅增加之外，自2016年以来，政府干预的趋势超过了法院；同一时期，谷歌对法院判决的遵守程度高于对政府实体要求的遵守程度，它也表现出类似的对政府要求的遵守情况。结果还表明，要求删除内容的做法因政治制度而异，同时指出了俄罗斯的独特特征。这项研究揭示了我们对平台化时代民族国家在塑造网络环境中的作用的理解。结果还表明，要求删除内容的做法因政治制度而异，同时指出了俄罗斯的独特特征。这项研究揭示了我们对平台化时代民族国家在塑造网络环境中的作用的理解。结果还表明，要求删除内容的做法因政治制度而异，同时指出了俄罗斯的独特特征。这项研究揭示了我们对平台化时代民族国家在塑造网络环境中的作用的理解。