Digital echoes of cultural values: Cross-cultural differences in online norm-enforcement

Cultures differ in their meta-norms - shared beliefs about how norm violations should be sanctioned. This raises the question of whether systematic cultural variation in norm enforcement exists on global social platforms. We examined this question and then explored whether such variation corresponds to offline cultural differences in two complementary studies. Study 1 used 2,850 large-language-model (LLM)–simulated Reddit users to isolate nationality as the only manipulated factor in a controlled thought experiment. Study 2 analyzed 29,309 real Reddit users across cultural subreddits (e.g., r/Spain, r/Japan) for ecological validation. Multilevel models revealed modest but meaningful between-community variation in online norm-enforcement behaviors (intraclass correlations ≈ 0-15%), indicating that enforcement behavior systematically differs across cultural Reddit communities. Across both studies, we observed convergent directional patterns: stronger social-ostracism norms were associated with lower levels of active sanctions and higher tendencies toward passive responses. Verbal-confrontation norms showed weaker effects but were consistently linked to more open, less censorial climates. Although the magnitudes differed, the aligned directions suggest that offline cultural orientations are reflected - albeit modestly - in online norm-enforcement behavior.