On Mercer Island, a small community near Seattle known for its affluence, a local Girl Scout troop leader and flood safety worker named Kate Akyuz decided to run for Mercer Island City Council Position No. 6 in 2021. Despite being a political newcomer, Akyuz quickly found herself the target of what appears to be a coordinated misinformation campaign on social media platform Nextdoor. While Akyuz believes that the platform’s biased moderation and spread of misinformation played a role in her eventual defeat, Nextdoor denies any wrongdoing. This incident highlights concerns about Nextdoor’s governance and moderation practices, which have been raised by users, local officials, and volunteers on the platform.
Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social media platform designed to connect real neighbors, promises to deliver trusted information with a local perspective. It boasts one in three households in the United States as users, making it an important resource for local civic debates in communities like Mercer Island. However, the lack of formal journalistic standards and the decentralized moderation policy on the platform leaves it vulnerable to misinformation and abuse.
Volunteer moderators on Mercer Island discovered suspicious behavior from multiple Nextdoor accounts linked to the city-council race, but their repeated reports to the company were ignored. The platform’s lax policies on misinformation and biased moderation have raised concerns about its impact on local democracy, and incidents like this underscore the need for improved governance and accountability.
As social media platforms become increasingly prominent in our daily lives, it is important that they take responsibility for their impact on our democracy. Incidents like this demonstrate the urgent need for platforms like Nextdoor to improve their moderation policies and be held accountable for the content circulated on their platforms.
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