What is Content Moderation? 

Content moderation refers to the process by which online platform screens and monitors user-generated content to determine whether it should be published or not, based on platform-specific rules and guidelines.

In other words, when a user submits content to a website, that content will go through a screening process (moderation process) to ensure that it complies with the website’s rules, is not illegal, inappropriate, or harassing, and so on. 

Content moderation is a common practice on online platforms that rely heavily on user-generated content, such as social media platforms, online marketplaces, the sharing economy, dating sites, communities and forums, and so on.

How to identify sensitive content for moderation

Offensive content, sensitive content, and pre-determined rules for content moderation are all topics we discuss frequently. This necessitates a discussion about what constitutes sensitive content. Sensitive content is defined as any text, image, video, audio, or another form of content that depicts violence, nudity, or hate speech. The platform’s requirements determine the rules for determining which content is sensitive. Many contents that would otherwise be turned off and safe may be allowed if a business wants to promote freedom of speech.

When deciding on the moderation rules, there are several factors to consider:

• Visitor demographics— When many young people use an app or platform, content moderation is required to ensure that they are not exposed to any sensitive material.
• User Expectations— If users expect their content to be published right away, the company will have to figure out how to do so while screening out sensitive material.
• Content quality— Users expect a higher quality of content, even after being moderated, as technology advances. As a result, pixelating all offensive images may no longer be a viable option.
• Duplicate content— It’s a major issue on the Internet, particularly in discussion forums and social media sites. Businesses must remove duplicate content as soon as possible to maintain their integrity and reliability.

Content moderation is a highly specialized activity, and serious businesses should enlist the help of experts in developing moderation rules and putting in place systems to successfully implement those rules. Any mistake in content moderation can cost you money and damage your reputation.

What is the Content moderator’s role?

The role of a content moderator is to: 

• Protect your company’s reputation
• Promote your brand by building a strong and positive community.
• Respond to customer questions on social media, blogs, and message boards.
• Users on your social media page should not be harassed or exposed to inappropriate content.
• Use software to scan content for specific words or image types, then make human judgments about the content. Determine whether a user’s post complies with the platform’s and group’s guidelines.
• Remove any offensive content, language, or spam comments.

Some of the most common types of user-posted content that content moderators look at are as follows:

• Instagram images, stories, and text Facebook posts and comments, including video, images, and text
• Videos on YouTube
• Posts in the discussion board
• Customer feedback on a product or service
• Articles that have been shared or linked in social media posts
• Blog comments

The more content your company creates across all platforms, the more comments, replies, and links you’ll have to keep track of. In fact, in a thriving online community, your participation can amount to thousands of posts per day, all of which must be monitored. If your onshore solution can’t keep up with the high volume, it might be time to outsource your content moderation to the Philippines. 

Types of content that need to be moderated

Since January 2018, more than 1 million people have gone online every day. The majority of them are in charge of creating content for platforms that allow users to interact. If nothing else, social media engagement generates a massive amount of user-generated content (UGC). As a result, the amount of content that must go through the moderation process grows. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Text moderation

A wide range of text can be posted on any website or application that accepts user-generated content. Consider the comments, forum discussions, articles, and other content that you encourage your users to post. When it comes to websites with job boards or bulletin boards, the amount of text that needs to be moderated grows even more. Text moderation is particularly difficult because each piece of content can differ in length, format, and style.

Besides, language is both complicated and fluid. Words and phrases that appear innocent on their own can be combined to convey an offensive meaning, even if it pertains to a particular culture or community. It is necessary to examine the sentences or paragraphs written to detect cybercrimes such as bullying or trolling. A blanket list of keywords or phrases that should be removed is insufficient to screen out hate speech or bullying.

Image moderation

Although image moderation is simpler than text moderation, image moderation has its own set of challenges. A picture that is acceptable in one country or culture may offend someone in another. If your website or app accepts user-submitted images, you’ll need to moderate the content based on the audience’s cultural expectations.

Video moderation

Moderating videos take a long time because moderators must watch them from beginning to end. Even a single frame of offensive or sensitive content is enough to cause viewers to become enraged. If your platform allows video submissions, you’ll need to devote a lot of time to moderation to ensure that community guidelines are followed. Subtitles, transcriptions, and other forms of content are frequently attached to videos. End-to-end moderation also necessitates explicit vetting of these components. Video moderation can, in effect, encapsulate text moderation as well.

Profile moderation

To better understand customer behavior and expectations, more businesses are encouraging users to register on their websites or apps. However, this has resulted in the addition of a new type of content that requires the approval of a moderator: user profiles. Profile moderation may appear simple, but it is critical to get it right the first time. Rogue users who have registered on your platform have the potential to devastate your brand’s image and credibility. On the other hand, if you successfully vet the profiles, you can rest assured that the content they post will require minimal moderation.

Gaming moderation

Gaming moderation refers to the process of ensuring that all user-generated content in a game or forum is appropriate, non-offensive, and compliant with the platform’s rules, community guidelines, or Terms of Service. Additionally, with an effective moderation system in place, hackers, cheaters, and bullies posing as regular players can be easily identified and apprehended before causing further harm. In other words, gaming moderation ensures and maintains the game’s integrity by consistently ensuring all players’ safety and security. 

It will be impossible to achieve a fair, healthy, and immersive gaming experience without gaming moderators.

Both gaming forums and live gaming require gaming moderation. Insider information and significant game-related announcements are also shared in each game’s official online communities, so it’s especially important in the forum.

Challenges in content moderation

From our discussion thus far, it is clear that any company with an online presence must moderate user-generated content on its platforms. Depending on their size, online presence, user engagement level, and type of content being posted by users, they face the following challenges.

• The emotional well-being of content moderators — extreme and graphic violence and explicit content-are exposed to human content moderators. Continued exposure to such content can result in mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, mental burnout, and other mental illnesses.
• Quick response time — At any given time, each business has multiple online platforms to manage, and different types of content are being uploaded every minute. Furthermore, users anticipate that content will be moderated quickly. Even when processes are heavily automated, managing this load is demanding.
• Catering to diverse cultures and expectations — As previously mentioned, what is acceptable in one community may be offensive in another. Businesses must localize their moderation efforts to meet the expectations of a wide range of audiences.

Content Moderation Outsourcing Services Philippines 

If your company has an online presence, whether it’s a website, an app, social media accounts, or discussion boards, you’ll need to moderate user-generated content across all platforms to maintain brand image and loyalty. Callhounds Global can help you protect your reputation safely and cost-effectively. We provide professional outsourced content moderation services. Please send us a message by clicking the button below to learn more about our services and pricing.