Who Clicks 'Delete' On Democracy?

This game immerses students in the challenges of balancing digital free speech with public safety and human rights. Players take on roles as members of Meta’s Oversight Board or one of five factions advocating different values around platforms’ role in society. Using real-world cases of banned social media posts, students debate how political and cultural contexts complicate a single understanding of content moderation online.

The game consists of two distinct scenarios, one focused on controversial speech  by politicians in Cambodia and Pakistan, and the other on controversial speech by protestors in Colombia and Iran. Instructors can choose to use either of these class-length scenarios independently, or use both together over two classes. Players must weigh political expression against safety, clash over what counts as “newsworthy,” and pitch policy solutions—from age-gating and protest shields to transparency archives. The Oversight Board votes on whether to remove or allow posts—and selects which policy proposals to recommend to Meta. Factions then rate the Board’s decisions for fairness, fueling a structured debrief on platform power, algorithmic bias, and technological governance.

The game scales from 7 to 46 students and is designed for courses in media, law, politics, and digital culture. It’s a flexible, short, but high-impact exercise that helps students engage with urgent global questions around freedom of speech, the fight for rights, and—ultimately—the future of democracy itself.