Impossible to do without both humans and algorithms
Always going to produce absurd, hypocritical and controversial interpretations of and changes to the TOS
Cause a horrific workload for those programming the algorithm, who must devise ways of screening for not actually well defined and constantly changing TOS no nos
Literally traumatize and cause massive mental damage to the human moderators
Facebook has these problems on an even worse scale, and still operates basically computer equipped sweatshops of hundreds and thousands of people in less economically developed parts of the world, most of whom report massive mental trauma from having to constantly review absolutely horrific content, day in, day out, for years.
Another alternative is /social networks this large should not exist/.
There are many, many other alternatives.
Its just that social networks this large have basically destroyed the brains of people who use them, so now they can hardly imagine alternatives.
And that is /another/ argument for why they shouldnt exist, the fact that they normalize themselves they way social and cultural institutions do, but with no actual accountability the way that local and state governments at least theoretically do.
This is also an explanation of why such things are not likely to go away. In addition to being addictive at an individual level, the network effect causes peer pressure to engage more, and otherisizes those who do not and makes them social outcasts, at least amongst the relevant ages ranges for given platforms, but this has also already become more pervasive in matters of direct economic importance, with many companies not hiring, and apartments not renting if they cannot first verify your social media presence on these large platforms.
To slightly inaccurately quote Morpheus from Deus Ex:
The human being desires judgement, without this, group cohesion is impossible, and thus, civilization.
At first you (humans) worshipped Gods, then, the fame and fortune of others. Next, it will be autonomous systems of surveillance, pervasive everywhere.
Welp, turns out that real life mass scale social media networks literally are a hybrid or synthesis of the elements of the latter two mechanisms of social reverence/judgement.
Content Moderation at this kind of scale is:
Impossible to do without both humans and algorithms
Always going to produce absurd, hypocritical and controversial interpretations of and changes to the TOS
Cause a horrific workload for those programming the algorithm, who must devise ways of screening for not actually well defined and constantly changing TOS no nos
Literally traumatize and cause massive mental damage to the human moderators
Facebook has these problems on an even worse scale, and still operates basically computer equipped sweatshops of hundreds and thousands of people in less economically developed parts of the world, most of whom report massive mental trauma from having to constantly review absolutely horrific content, day in, day out, for years.
100% agree, but the alternative is giving the average user moderation power and hoping they do a good job at it, or not moderate at all.
Thats /an/ alternative.
Another alternative is /social networks this large should not exist/.
There are many, many other alternatives.
Its just that social networks this large have basically destroyed the brains of people who use them, so now they can hardly imagine alternatives.
And that is /another/ argument for why they shouldnt exist, the fact that they normalize themselves they way social and cultural institutions do, but with no actual accountability the way that local and state governments at least theoretically do.
This is also an explanation of why such things are not likely to go away. In addition to being addictive at an individual level, the network effect causes peer pressure to engage more, and otherisizes those who do not and makes them social outcasts, at least amongst the relevant ages ranges for given platforms, but this has also already become more pervasive in matters of direct economic importance, with many companies not hiring, and apartments not renting if they cannot first verify your social media presence on these large platforms.
To slightly inaccurately quote Morpheus from Deus Ex:
Welp, turns out that real life mass scale social media networks literally are a hybrid or synthesis of the elements of the latter two mechanisms of social reverence/judgement.