User-generated content is a major influencer of digital space. We can all see the unimaginable amount of text, images and video being shared on social media and other websites. Businesses and brands cannot keep track of all the content shared online by users on multiple social media platforms, forums, websites, or other online platforms.
To maintain a trustworthy and safe environment, it is important to keep track of social influences on brand perceptions and adhere to official regulations. Content moderation is a process that screens, monitors, labels and labels user-generated content according to platform-specific rules. It can help achieve safe and healthy online environments.
Online opinions of individuals published on forums and social media channels have been a significant source for assessing the credibility of institutions, businesses, polls, political agendas, polls, etc.
What is Content Moderation?
Moderation involves sifting through posts to find inappropriate text, images or videos. As part of this process, a set of rules are used to monitor the content. Any content not in compliance with these guidelines will be double-checked to ensure that it is legal and appropriate for publication on the site/platform. Any user-generated content that is not consistent with the guidelines is flagged and removed.
People may be violent, offensive or nudist for many reasons. This content moderation program helps ensure that users feel safe and secure while using the platform. It also promotes trust in businesses by promoting their credibility. Content moderation is used to protect content on platforms such as social media and dating apps, websites, marketplaces and forums.
What is the purpose of content moderation?
Because of the volume of content being created every second, user-generated content platforms have difficulty keeping up with offensive and inappropriate text, images, or videos. It is essential to ensure your website conforms to your standards and protects clients.
Digital assets such as business websites, social media, forums and other online platforms must be carefully inspected to ensure that any content is consistent with media standards and those of the platforms. Any violation must be reported and the content removed from the site. This is the function of content moderation. It can be summarized as an intelligent data management process that allows platforms not to have inappropriate content.
Modification Types for Content
There are many types of content moderation. They differ depending on the type of user-generated material posted to the sites and the details of the user base. Content moderation practices are determined by the sensitivity of the content and the platform on which it was posted. There are many ways to manage content moderation. These are five important content moderation methods that have been used for a long time.
1 Automated Moderation
Today’s moderating process can be radically simplified, facilitated, and accelerated by technology. Artificial intelligence algorithms analyze text and visuals in fractions of the time that it would take humans to do. They don’t experience psychological trauma as they aren’t exposed to inappropriate content.
Automated moderation can screen text for potentially harmful keywords. Advanced systems can detect patterns in conversation and analyze relationships.
AI-powered image annotation, recognition tools such as Imagga, offer a viable solution to monitor images, videos, live streams, and live streaming. These solutions can be used to control sensitive imagery at various levels.
Tech-powered moderation can be more precise and useful, but it does not eliminate the need to manually review content, especially when appropriateness is the real concern. Automated moderation is still a combination of technology and human moderation.
2 Pre-Moderation
This method of content moderation is the most thorough. Every piece of content is checked before it is published. First, the text, image or video content that is intended to be published online goes to the review queue. This queue reviews it to determine if it is suitable for posting online. Only after moderation, content that has been approved by the moderator goes live.
This is the best way to block harmful content. However, it is not fast enough to be applicable in the online world. Platforms that require strict content compliance can use the pre-moderation method to fix the content. Platforms for children are a good example. They prioritize security.
3 Post-Moderation
Post-moderation is generally used to screen content. Posts can be made at any time, but they must be screened before being published. To ensure safety, items are removed if they are flagged as being unsafe.
These platforms are designed to speed up the review process and reduce the time it takes for inappropriate content to remain online. Many digital businesses today prefer post-moderation, even though it’s less secure than premoderation.
4 Reactive Moderation
Users are required to flag inappropriate content or violate the terms of service as part of reactive moderation. It may be an option depending on the situation.
Reactive moderation is best used either in combination with post-moderation, or as a stand-alone method to maximize results. This gives you a double safety net as users can flag content after it passes the entire moderation process.
5 Moderation in Distributed Form
This moderation is entirely up to the online communities. Users rate content based on their conformance to platform guidelines. This method is rarely used by brands due to its reputational or legal risks.
How content moderation tools work to label content
The first step to using content moderation on your platform is to establish clear guidelines regarding inappropriate content. This will allow content moderators to identify inappropriate content and remove it. All text is marked with labels.
The type of content to be moderated must be checked, flagged and deleted. Moderation limits should be determined based on its sensitivity, impact and intended point. You should also check the parts of the content that are more inappropriate and require more attention during content moderation.
How content moderation tools work
There are many types of unwanted content online, from innocent images of pornographic characters (animated or real) to offensive racial digs. A content moderation tool can be used to detect these types of content on digital platforms. Cogito, Anolytics and other content moderators use a hybrid moderation approach, which includes both AI-based and human-in the loop moderation tools.
The manual method promises accuracy, but the moderation tools allow for fast and efficient output. AI-based content moderation tools can identify characters and characteristics in text, images, audio and video content uploaded by users via online platforms. They are provided with a lot of training data. The moderation tools can also recognize faces and identify nudity and obscenity.
Moderated Content Types
There are four types of digital content: text, images and audio. Moderation requirements dictate which categories are to be used.
1. Text
The text is the core of digital content. It is everywhere and it accompanies every visual content. All platforms that allow user-generated content to be moderated should have this privilege. The majority of text-based content found on digital platforms is composed
- Blogs, articles, and similar types of long posts
- Social media discussions
- Comments/feedbacks/product reviews/complaints
- Postings on job boards
- Forum posts
It can be difficult to moderate user-generated content. It can be difficult to pick offensive text and determine its sensitivity in terms abuse, vulgarity, and any other unacceptable nature. This requires a thorough understanding of content moderation, in accordance with platform-specific rules, regulations, and the law.
2. Images
Moderating visual content isn’t as difficult as moderating text. However, you need clear guidelines and thresholds in order to avoid making mistakes. Before you can moderate images, you need to consider cultural differences and cultural sensitivities.
Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are visual content-based platforms. They are exposed to the complexities of image review, especially when it comes to large images. There is a high risk of being exposed to disturbing visuals as a content moderator.
3. Video
Video is one of the most difficult content types to manage today. While a single scene might not be sufficient to delete the entire file, it is important that the entire file be screened. Video content moderation works in the same way as image content moderation, but it’s too difficult to manage large videos with so many frames.
When there are subtitles or titles inside video content, moderation can become complicated. Before proceeding with moderation of video content, it is important to examine the video and determine if subtitles or titles have been included.
Roles and responsibilities of content moderators
Article moderators look at a variety of articles, whether they are textual or visually. They then mark any items that do not comply with the platform’s guidelines. This means that each item must be manually reviewed, evaluated and thoroughly reviewed. If an automated pre-screening is not used, this can be dangerous and slow.
Manual content moderation is an inconvenience that can’t be avoided today. Moderators’ mental well-being and psychological health is at risk. Modifications are made based on the level of sensitivity to any content that is disturbing, violent, explicit or unacceptable.
Multifaceted content moderation solutions have made it easier to identify the most difficult part of content moderating. Many content moderation companies are capable of handling any kind of digital content.
Moderation Solutions for Content
The potential for AI-based content moderation tools to be used by businesses that heavily rely on user generated content is immense. Moderation tools can be integrated with the automated system to identify unacceptable content and further process it with appropriate labels. Human review is still required in many cases, but technology provides safe and effective ways to speed content moderation and make it easier for moderators.
Hybrid models can optimize moderation processes and make them more efficient. Modern moderation tools have made it easier for professionals to identify unacceptable content and then moderate it according to legal and platform-centric requirements. A content moderation expert who is industry-specific in their expertise is key to achieving accuracy and prompt completion of moderation work.
Final thoughts
You can instruct human moderators on what content to remove as inappropriate. AI platforms can also perform exact content moderation automatically using data from AI platforms. Sometimes, manual and automated content moderations can be combined to produce faster and more effective results. Cogito, Anolytics, and others can offer their content moderation expertise to help you set up your online image.