"Sexual Context Collapse” on TikTok: Platform Politics, Content Moderation, and User Agency in Platform Governance

This dissertation investigates the mechanisms of governance and political interaction on TikTok, focusing on the intricate processes governing the creation and regulation of sexual content. It scrutinizes the interconnections of user agency, performative acts, and the dominant power frameworks that shape the terrain of sexual politics and corporeal rights on the platform. By integrating insights from Digital Media Studies, Socio-Technical Studies, and Political Science, the dissertation situates the production, mediation, and regulation of public social media content within the nexus of sexuality, performance, and technology. Utilizing a multi- method qualitative approach, the study intertwines prolonged observation spanning two years, video content analysis of one thousand TikTok videos, and semi-structured interviews with seventeen creators of sexual content. The findings reveal a tension between individual creativity and platform governance, shedding light on the intricate balance between digital autonomy and censorship in the contemporary domain of human sexuality and social media. Another key contribution of the study is the development of the "sexual content" typology and the "sexual context collapse framework," which can be instrumental theoretical frameworks for dissecting sexual content and its contextual nuances on platforms like TikTok. The dissertation enriches our comprehension of content creation and moderation as facets of social media platform governance, underscoring the urgency for transparent and equitable moderation practices amidst the rapidly evolving technological landscape and changing socio-sexual paradigms.