An Economic Analysis Of User-Generated Content Regulation For Mixed Two-Sided Platforms

With the rapid development of information technology,the Internet platform economy has become a new organizational mode of productivity and a new driving force of economic development,which plays an important role in optimizing resource allocation and promoting cross-border integration progress.However,with increasing concerns in social issues,platform regulation has gradually become the focus of attention.Based on platform economics,management,game theory and other theoretical methods,this thesis conducts in-depth theoretical research on mixed twosided platforms based on user-generated content,government collaborative governance and competitive game.The main research contents and innovative work of this thesis are summarized as follows.This thesis studies the autonomous regulation of mixed two-sided platforms based on user-generated content,and solves the dilemma about platform regulation.Strict regulation may weaken the willingness of users to continuously generate new contents,whereas loose regulation may lead to massive low-quality content shares.This thesis develops a game-theoretic model to address the optimal level of platform regulation and the factors that influence the platform’s revenue model decisions.Two revenue models are generally adopted by a UGC platform: access price and advertisement agency.It is found that the positive effect of platform regulation and the efficiency of ads has significant influence on the results related to optimal regulation level and revenue model.In particular,when the positive effect of platform regulation is minimal(maximal),regular(maximal)platform regulation is optimal.Moreover,when the efficiency of ads is positive,the platform under the advertisement agency model generates more revenue;otherwise,the platform under the access price model does.When the positive effect of platform regulation is moderate,the results for optimal regulation level and revenue model are jointly determined by the mixed influence of the efficiency of ads and the positive effect of regulation.There also exists a win-winwin scenario for platform profit,consumer surplus,and social welfare.This thesis studies the government collaborative regulation and competitive game of mixed two-sided platforms based on user-generated content.It also analyzes the strategy of platform autonomous regulation and the probability of government collaborative regulation in monopoly market and duopoly market.The thesis finds that platform regulation strategy in monopoly market and duopoly market depends on the relationship between the impact cost of serious social issues and the cost of government regulation punishment.Moreover,the probability of knotty social issues affects the choice of government strategy.In addition,the impact of competition on platform regulation strategy has a relationship with the intrinsic value of platform.This thesis expands the research on mixed two-sided platform regulation and government collaborative regulation based on user-generated content,explains emerging issues such as content regulation and platform governance in empirical observations,and provides a theoretical basis for platforms,consumers,and policymakers to formulate strategies.