Metadata Suppression as Epistemic Violence: How Platforms Shape What Becomes Knowable

This work develops a theoretical framework for understanding metadata suppression as a structural form of epistemic violence within digital platforms. Metadata—titles, tags, timestamps, authorship markers, and classification signals—functions as the infrastructural layer that determines what becomes visible, searchable, and knowable in digital systems. When platforms suppress, distort, or misattribute metadata, they do more than reduce visibility: they reshape the epistemic environment itself. The paper argues that metadata suppression constitutes a form of infrastructural power that fractures authorship, disrupts intellectual lineage, and disproportionately harms marginalized creators. Drawing on research in information science, platform governance, and algorithmic bias, the work introduces the concept of authorship drift, a phenomenon in which suppressed or altered metadata erodes a creator’s presence across platforms. The essay positions metadata suppression as a mechanism of epistemic violence and proposes the need for metadata hygiene practices, transparency tools, and epistemic‑rights protections to safeguard digital autonomy. This work contributes to emerging conversations on digital infrastructure, knowledge classification, and the politics of visibility.