The empowerment effect of jury-based content moderation: Impact on user stickiness on social media platforms

The increasing user-generated content on social media platforms, while enriching user experiences, has posed higher risks of exposure to inappropriate content, which can diminish user satisfaction and platform stickiness—a critical factor of platform success. Jury-based content moderation has emerged as a critical community-driven governance approach that empowers users to collectively evaluate the appropriateness of user-generated content. This study investigates whether and how granting users jury-based content moderation power influences their stickiness on social media platforms. Through three experiments, the research demonstrates a positive impact of jury-based content moderation power on user stickiness, mediated by users’ social identity. This effect can be further amplified by reputation rewards and power scarcity. Moreover, through a quasi-experimental study based on observational data from a leading Chinese online video platform, we further confirm the positive effect of jury-based content moderation, validating generalizability of our findings in real-world context. By uncovering the linkage and boundary conditions between jury-based content moderation and platform stickiness, this study not only enriches our understanding on the empowerment effect of participatory governance but also provides actionable strategies for leveraging jury-based moderation and associated incentive schemas to foster user retention.

Recommended citation: Ma, B., Wen, X., Chen, Y., Mu, Y., & Huang, Y. (2026). "The empowerment effect of jury-based content moderation: Impact on user stickiness on social media platforms." Telematics and Informatics. 106:102382
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