Do the Reasons for Social Media Censorship Vary Across Political Regimes and Social Media Platforms?

We analyzed 360 incidents of social media censorship (SMC) across 76 countries from 2009 to 2023 to examine if regime types and social media (SM) platforms can predict the reasons for SMC. Our multinomial logistic regression analysis based on two hypotheses suggests that regime types significantly fully influence, while SM platforms partially influence censorship reasons. Even though the democratization process in a country tends to increase online liberty, there is a potential for increased control in democratic environments if SM platforms threaten user safety and privacy. We also suggest that security reasons, often cited by democracies, may have underlying political motivations. These insights could inform the development of more appropriate frameworks and strategies for SM regulation across diverse political contexts.