What is Content Moderation? Is it really important for businesses?

Tanya operates a clothing line meant for working women. Post a lot of requests Tanya started a website with an embedded E-Commerce platform. After its launch, Tanya thought her orders would go up. However, it worked for a couple of months. After this some regular customers started seeking the catalog via WhatsApp instead of through the website. This prompted her to look into the issue closely. Then the reason dawned on Tanya that the reviews posted on her website were the reason for the less enthusiasm for her online platform as it contained some toxic comments and inappropriate photographs. This was the reason for people to avoid her website. Only if Tanya had used content moderation on her website.

Overseeing the user-generated content (UGC) on an online platform and using some set guidelines to weed out the offensive content is called content moderation. The convenient method of moderating content is to review and assess content before it goes for public consumption. If the content happens to be abusive, it can be eliminated if the content moderator declares it to be so. The tech giants such as Microsoft, IBM, and Alphabet are creating on-cloud and on-premise solutions to help all businesses to moderate UGC on their platforms.

These days we keep coming across offensive and sensitive content. So, what exactly is sensitive content. The content, be it text, image, video, audio, or in any other form, that portrays violence, nudity, or hatred can be called sensitive content. A platform’s specific needs determine the sensitive content. In case a business that encourages freedom of speech, then it might allow certain content that would be called offensive on other platforms.

Hence, we have to factor in things while applying rules for moderation:

Visitor demographics — In case an app or platform attracts a lot of young people, then it is the duty of the content moderator not to expose these people to any type of sensitive content. For example, learning apps for children etc.

User Expectations — If users want their content to be published quickly, then the business should produce the same swiftly online while weeding out sensitive content.

Duplicate content — This is a bane across the internet, especially on discussion forums and social media sites. To preserve integrity and credibility, businesses have to do away with duplicate content in a jiffy.

So, content moderation is no child’s play. In case of any error businesses can entail huge losses and their credibility would take a big hit, like what we saw in Tanya’s case.

AI helps moderate content

With a humongous amount of data generated by users it becomes a mission impossible for humans to go through everything. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a boon in this scenario. So the best concoction would be between Artificial Intelligence and human moderation, where AI does all the heavy weightlifting.

Due to the COVID-19, moderation efforts have received a big blow because of the absence of human beings from workplaces. As a consequence of privacy and security issues, each and every content cannot be seen from home by the content moderators. This has made AI-driven content moderation very popular. So, let us learn how the AI content moderation system works with human intervention.

• Every content, whether published or not, is assigned to moderation on the AI system.
• Depending on certain procedures integrated into the system, content is screened. The offensive and racy content are handled according to the prescribed guidelines; it may be taken off in totality or filtered.
• Certain content is assigned for human moderation, according to some guidelines.
• After human moderators see the assigned content, feedback is given to the moderation algorithm so that AI algorithms can properly filter the content. Hence, the system is constantly taught via human expertise.

Types of content that need to be moderated

Text moderation

Any website or application getting user-triggered content can expect a heap of text as posts. This type of moderation is very tough and time consuming. With regard to websites having job boards or bulletin boards, the range of text for moderation will always be on the higher side. Every piece of content can vary in length, format, and style and this makes the task unenviable.

Image moderation

Despite images being easier to moderate than text, this kind of filtering comes with its own complexities. For example, one image might suit one country or culture but might be offensive to another. So, if you have an app or website receiving images from users, then the moderation hinges on the cultural aspect of the audience.

Video moderation

This is very time-consuming as moderators have to watch it from beginning to end. A sole frame of offensive or sensitive content can annoy the viewers. If you permit video submissions on the platform, then the efforts involved can be huge to make sure community guidelines are not violated.

Profile moderation

These days several businesses are encouraging users to register on their websites or apps to gauge customer needs and expectations. So, you have another form of content to be moderated — user profiles. This might come across as easy, but to achieve 100% efficiency hard yards have to be put in.

Types of content moderation

The content moderation process of yours has to be in line with your business objectives. This is a tough place to be. Let’s learn various types of content moderation methods in vogue so that you can pick the one that suits you.

Pre-moderation

Pre-moderation makes sure no sensitive content — a comment, image or video — gets posted on a site. Over here content is assigned for moderation before posting them. However, this can make those online communities restless that seek quick and unhindered engagement. This is best suited for platforms requiring higher layers of protection, like apps meant for children.

Post-moderation

Over here user content is published immediately, but the content is moderated after submission. If the posted content happens to be inappropriate or hateful then they are taken down immediately.

Reactive moderation

Platforms with a large number of communities ask the users to flag any content for violating community guidelines. So, the job of moderators becomes easier as they have to concentrate only on flagged content. The hitch over here is permitting sensitive content to be active on a platform for a longer duration.

Supervisor moderation

This is another form of reactive moderation. A set of moderators is chosen from the online community, who are given the power to modify or take down submissions if they happen to be at variance with community guidelines.

Automated moderation

Over here several tools and techniques are employed for filtering, flagging, or eliminating offensive content. Basically, the content goes through an algorithm that eyes instances of prohibited words and confirms that content is not from blocked IP addresses.

So, choose the method of moderation after taking into account your type of business.

Problems confronting content moderation

By now it has become as clear as daylight that businesses with online presence have to moderate the content created by the user on its platforms. There are some challenges to the same as well and let us learn those.

Affects mental health On some platforms there might be a lot of content with extreme violence that can put off anyone, more so humans. The human content moderators are constantly exposed to such horrific content, which would affect their mental well being. Resultantly, they become prone to post-traumatic stress disorder, mental burnout, and other mental health disorders.

Swift response can be a herculean task Every business has several online platforms to handle at one time and there are several content posted in a minute’s time. Users expect these to come up on the web swiftly, but managing such a hefty load can be a bit problematic.

Catering to diverse cultures and expectations — As they say “ one man’s food is another man’s poison.” Considering this maxim there might be content suitable for one set of the audience and unsuitable for another. Businesses have to maintain parity over here as they need to cater to a wide variety of audience.

We are here to devise moderation solutions

If you have an online platform, be it a website or an app or a discussion forum, then it is imperative to have content moderation provision for the sake of the credibility of your organization. We have got the skillful staff to fully understand your problems and devise solutions. It is important to set up guidelines to devise content moderation strategy. We can help you immensely over here and merge AI and Machine Learning with technical innovations like Blockchain to create a potent automated content moderation solution.

Summary

Content moderation has become a must these days as online platforms are used to spread hatred among communities and other nefarious activities. Text, photos, videos, or any other kind of content portraying violence, nudity etc come within the ambit of sensitive content. But, guidelines determining offensive or inappropriate content is also significant in the context of content moderation. So, take this activity of moderation seriously as it has a direct effect on the brand equity of your company.