Episode 18: Social Media and Content Moderation

All content platforms and social media companies must keep the content flowing because that is the business model: Content captures attention, provides viewership and generates data (users’ statistics). Content is the starting and the end point of consumers’ journeys on social media. A video, an information post, a tweet, blog post, picture, public service advisories, are all types of content. The platforms then sell that attention (read: viewership), enriched by that data (read: customized ads). But how do you deal with the objectionable, disgusting, pornographic, illegal, or otherwise verboten content uploaded alongside legitimate content?

How do Facebook and other tech and social media companies ensure integrity of content on their networks? And how do these companies work to curb misinformation on their platforms about the Coronavirus pandemic or the 2020 elections or any other global or regional event. We have seen state and non-state sponsored actors with nefarious intent take advantage of lax content posting norms.