Patriarchal blind spots of risk management under technogarchy? Gendered disinformation as a systemic risk under the DSA

Large online platforms have become fora for political discourse, gaining substantial influence over communication, media infrastructure and public attention. Most of these platforms show a concerning presence of harmful content such as intentional false or misleading gender- and sexuality-based claims (gendered disinformation, GenDis). GenDis has served to reaffirm gender and sexuality norms, mute political adversaries, and delegitimize politicians and institutions, e.g. used by the Kremlin and radical right actors.. To address the spread of such harmful content in the EU, the Digital Services Act (DSA) requires very large online platforms (VLOPs) to manage “systemic risks”. However, platforms’ risk management of GenDis remains underexplored. Based on a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles, we conclude that GenDis-related risks fall under the systemic risk categories of the DSA. Conversely, our analysis of VLOPs risk reports indicates that X, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube inadequately address GenDis. We interpret the omission of GenDis in platform reports as a blind spot of patriarchal-technogarchic risk management, which facilitates misogynist and LGBTQI-phobic illiberal communication practices. We argue that risk management needs to acknowledge vulnerabilities resulting from social inequalities, avoid compartmentalisation, and allow for complex phenomena like GenDis to bridge several systemic risk categories.