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Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media
by
An eye-opening look at the invisible workers who protect us from seeing humanity’s worst on today’s commercial internet
Social media on the internet can be a nightmarish place. A primary shield against hateful language, violent videos, and online cruelty uploaded by users is not an algorithm. It is people. Mostly invisible by design, more than 100,000 commercial content ...more
Social media on the internet can be a nightmarish place. A primary shield against hateful language, violent videos, and online cruelty uploaded by users is not an algorithm. It is people. Mostly invisible by design, more than 100,000 commercial content ...more
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Hardcover, 280 pages
Published
June 25th 2019
by Yale University Press
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Start your review of Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media

Behind The Screen is a very superficial attempt to portray the lives of internet content moderators, those unfortunates who look at all the porn and the hate on social media, and give them a thumbs up or down. They are the maintenance crew of the internet. Browsing social media would be a horrific experience without them.
There are three levels of moderators, according to Sarah T. Roberts. One is to work directly at a company that does it. Or, work for a contractor that moderates for others, whi ...more
There are three levels of moderators, according to Sarah T. Roberts. One is to work directly at a company that does it. Or, work for a contractor that moderates for others, whi ...more

This book is valuable for being informative about an emerging occupational structure developing along with the spread of social media on the web. It concerns the job of commercial content moderation (CCM), which comprises in some variety of forms the individuals whose job it is to review videos and other posts that have been flagged as being objectionable and determine whether the posts comply with firm policies and standards or not, in which case they are removed. It is a job largely done by pe
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En bok om det dagliga arbetet som sker bakom kulisserna på sociala medier, där människor i mindre välbärgade länder arbetar hårt för att filtrera bort oönskade element från nätverken så att de inte riskerar att nå slutanvändarna. Människor som offrar sin mentala hälsa för att möjliggöra det kraftigt friserade internet vi har idag.

Content moderators are the digital janitors and waste haulers of the 21st century, and this book has a tinge of Upton Sinclair's "The Slaughterhouse" in how it reveals how these low-paid workers are often traumatized and exploited. Hopefully it will help drive the public and policy-makers to make some needed changes in how we regulate Big Tech.
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What's impressive is how well Roberts' work centers the moderators and does not feel tied to a particular moment...especially given the speedy shifts and focus on the content moderation space.
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