Photo moderators for Facebook and other popular websites are contracted out, some of those negotiations even crossing international boundaries, according to article in The Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast launched an investigation on Facebook censorship after the popular social media website banned The New Yorker’s page for containing a cartoon of a naked man and woman where the woman’s breasts were represented as two black dots.
Eventually, Facebook lifted the ban, calling it “a mistake.”
On first thought, the words “Facebook moderators” sound appealing. The site is so popular, so some form of regulation needs to be in place. Remember when users were exposed to image after image of women breastfeeding? People do not want to see that.
That being said, things are going to get tricky when Facebook employs a staff of moderators who hail from several different countries.
Those moderators are going to have varying codes of ethics, which will only lead to a confusing array of guidelines about what’s permissible to post and what’s not. In fact, moderators from the same country even could have different definitions of what’s appropriate.
Finally, it’s understandable that The New Yorker faux pas occurred. The moderators have to sit there, sifting through photo after photo after photo, most of them probably tasteful. Then something slightly questionable such as The New Yorker cartoon pops up, and the moderators see reason to label it inappropriate. Also, the moderators probably didn’t even realize the image was from The New Yorker. After clicking through so many photos, they’re probably not paying much attention to where those photos are coming from.
Looking forward, it will be interesting to see if Facebook comes up with any new tools to identify what content is and isn’t appropriate. However, it seems unlikely that the company will ever be able to eradicate every inappropriate post on its site.
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