How to Rethink Regulation with Prosocial Design

Across much of the world, digital platform regulation is stuck, or absent. In many countries, platforms face pressure from governments, civil society, and the media about harmful or illicit content, but are rarely held responsible for the design of their products. This disconnect is particularly urgent in conflict-affected regions, where unchecked harmful content can easily trigger real-world violence. In many parts of the world, this isn’t just a theoretical policy debate—it’s a life-or-death issue.

Most countries still lack any legal framework to govern how platforms are built, how they influence behavior, or how they shape public discourse and wellbeing. And often, there is real concern over ways in which giving governments more say over digital platforms can lead to censorship and otherwise threaten freedom of expression. But an emerging global consensus may offer a path forward. Regulators and experts are beginning to recognize what research confirms: that online harms are not just caused by “bad users” or “bad content.” They are the predictable outcomes of platform designs optimized for attention, engagement, and data extraction.

That’s the foundational insight behind Prosocial Tech Design Regulation: A Practical Guide. Produced by the Council on Tech and Social Cohesion and shaped by 20 contributors and reviewers from Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Europe, the guide offers a new blueprint for platform accountability developed in collaboration with organizations including the USC Neely Center, the Integrity Institute, TechSocietal, GoodBot, Search for Common Ground, Build Up and the Prosocial Design Network. It draws lessons from more than a dozen policies and regulatory texts—from Minnesota to Indonesia, and from the UK’s Age-Appropriate Design Code to the EU’s Digital Services Act.