June 2020 Report Release
Who Moderates the Social Media Giants?
A Call to End Outsourcing
Paul M. Barrett
Content moderation and consequences
In our latest report on the social media industry, we look at how the major platforms handle the problem of content moderation: deciding what remains on their sites and what should be removed. Despite the centrality of this task—without it, the platforms would be inundated by harmful content—the social media companies outsource content moderation to third-party vendors. The report examines the consequences of this marginalization of a core element of the social media business model, including how content moderation has played out during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Read our recommendations for social media companies.
ReMoVING HaRMFUL CONTENT
One consequence of the outsourcing and marginalizing of content moderation has been the failure to provide adequate review of hate speech and other material that can spark animosity and violence in developing countries. Focusing on Facebook as a case study, the report describes the role of social media in sparking unrest in Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Ethiopia—and explains how the company says it has recognized this shortcoming and begun to address it.
The way forward
The report makes eight recommendations to the social media companies, beginning with a call to end outsourcing in content moderation. Other reforms we suggest include doubling the number of moderators, so that these individuals each have more time to analyze the stream of disturbing material on their workstation screens, and providing better mental health care to workers who suffer psychological side effects from doing content moderation.
Webinar Recording: Who Moderates the Social Media Giants?
On Thursday June 18th, the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights hosted a webinar on one of the most pressing issues facing the social media industry and its billions of users. View the recording here:
