š r/Games mods fight back
Hello and welcome to this weekās newsletter,
Before jumping in, I wanted to flag an email newsletter that I came across this week from the Industry Association of Privacy Professionals (I didn't know there was one either) about content moderation. I don't know if it's any good (I havenāt received anything in my inbox yet) but if youāre reading this, it may be useful/interesting.
Are there any other moderation policy/platforms/online community newsletters that you read I should be subscribed to? Drop me an email - Iād love to get your recommendations.
Thanks for reading āĀ BW
972 words of hope
What happens when you take a popular subreddit with 1.7m subscribers offline for a day to make a point? Accusations of virtue signalling, vile name calling and 450+ false user reports, thatās what.
Thatās what happened this week when the mods of r/games closed it for April Foolās to draw attention to the ācondescending, dismissive, vindictive and pessimistic attitudesā they see every day in their work to make the 88th largest subreddit a habitable place.
Their post, which runs to almost 1000 words and is worth reading in full, explains why they felt the need to stage such an intervention and outlines why April 1, a day when fake headlines spread wildly across the web making moderators' lives difficult, seemed like a good day to do it.
As if it was needed, they also set out the kinds of comments that they see on a daily basis (donāt spend too long reading, theyāre horrid) and finish by linking to over 20 charities who make it their 'mission to represent and benefit those who still face their own challenges, obstacles and prejudices. Itās clear, as they say in a follow-up post the following day, that "this is, from the bottom of our hearts, real.ā
Unsurprisingly, they got a lot of blowback. And, frankly, there are few internet communities where that wouldnāt happen.
But what was more telling was the tidal wave of support, praise and well-wishes the mods got for taking a stand against the minority of shitposters. The gallery of comments and messages they compiled is heart-warming to read: infrequent posters coming out to say āit means a lot to meā, lurkers uncovering themselves to say āthank you for taking a standā and folks generally saying āIām proud of yāallā.
One particularly heart-warming post I found simply says: ā364/365 days of the year Iām disappointed by the gaming community. Today was the first time in a long time I have been proudā.
Me too, anonymous user. More interventions from moderators like this and thereās hope yet.
Firing and hiring
A tough week for TikTok. In India, a court ruling asked the government to ban the video sharing app entirely while in the UK, a BBC investigation over three months found hundreds of sexual comments posted on videos posted by teenagers and children. If Facebook hadn't set such a high bar last year, you'd probably call it a PR crisis.
Itās no surprise to see then that theyāre hiring for a Content Policy Manager based in Beijing as well as moderators and content reviewers based in London in a host of languages (Swedish, Polish, Italian, German, French and Arabic, Spanish etc).
The sooner, the better.
Not forgetting..
Iāve not got round to reading Bloombergās exclusive on the YouTube executives who ignored advice to focus on content moderation policy but it would be remiss of me to not include it here.
YouTube Executives Ignored Warnings, Let Toxic Videos Run Rampant - Bloomberg
Proposals to change recommendations and curb conspiracies were sacrificed for engagement, staff say.
Charlie Warzelās NYT piece on YouTube feeds into an increasingly popular idea that growth (and greed) are at the heart of the problems social networks face right now
Big Techās Original Sin - The New York Times
Greed. Itās about greed.
Lots to enjoy and read in this Wired long read of Section 230, the US legislation that set the precedent for online platforms forgoing responsibility for the content on their site
The strange story of Section 230, the obscure law that created our flawed, broken internet | WIRED UK
In 1995, it looked as though we might be heading towards an internet where censorship and moderation ruled supreme. Then along came Section 230
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has called for a globally co-ordinated response to the Christchurch attack from governments and social networks. The question is: what does that actually look like?
New Zealand PM says Facebook curbs not enough
New Zealand PM says Facebook curbs not enough
Like Epic Games (March 5 edition), Google Stadia announced they will also be cracking down on trolling when it launches later this year
Google Stadia Will Insulate āToxicā Gamers From The Rest Of The Platform - One Angry Gamer
Everything in Moderation is a weekly newsletter about content moderation and the policies, products, platforms and people shaping its future.