But, the fact is, its virtually impossible to moderate social media sites effectively.
There are a few reasons.
Social Media Is Huge
Some social media sites are still fledgling or are more niche.
However, major social media sites have vast user bases.
The largest sites have between hundreds of millions to billions of users.
Naturally, any platform that large is hard to monitor.
And, many sites offer an appeals process.
Social Media Is Diverse
Social media sites arent just huge in terms of their user base.
So, social media companies active in different geographical areas often have to have different policies for different users.
This includes different policies for misinformation and privacy.
In fact,Twitter had to agree to specific terms to get unbanned in Nigeria.
A good example is that of Facebook owner Meta.
Striking a balance between these two desires is the tricky task of the content moderator.
Stray too far to one side, and users will feel policed.
Stray too far to the other side and users will feel abandoned.
One way that some social media sites get around this is through community moderators.
This model is challenging at scale, though different platforms make it work in different ways.
Parler came back onlineafter adjusting its moderation policy to comply with third-party policies.
Prioritizing user reports is another way that Parler helps to lighten the load on its moderators.
Even platforms with a more free-speech view of moderation have rules against potentially harmful or violent content.
Many platforms also have rules against other activities like selling products or services.
This can be an even trickier area to navigate, particularly given the size and scope of some sites.
Considerwhat Reddit community moderators do.
Whenever users join a new community, they are immediately sent the rules for that community.
Those rules are also posted on the side of each community page.
The idea of subreddits also helps Reddit use community moderators at scale.
Moderators are tasked with moderating their subreddit rather than trying to patrol the whole site.
Social Media Moves Fast
Finally, social media moves really fast.
make a run at avoid getting upset or suspicious because moderating social media is hard.
The same goes if you or a post is reported.
Its probably a well-intentioned move to keep social media users safe.
