Content Moderation Is Terrible by Design

The tippity-tappity stream of Stories optimized to maximize ~engagement~? Inhumane.

The essential truth of every social network is that the product is content moderation, and everyone hates the people who decide how content moderation works. Content moderation is what Twitter makes — it is the thing that defines the user experience. It’s what YouTube makes, it’s what Instagram makes, it’s what TikTok makes. They all try to incenti... See more

That all of us are reveling in content slop is an uncomfortable truth. It may be intellectually easier to blame AI as the problem when the issue resides in people and platforms. My double-bind theory argues that attention aggregators have no choice but to allow content that pushes the bounds of social acceptability. Otherwise, engagement moves to a... See more

I can't think of a single positive change to a social media platform in years. Nothing has been done with user value in mind; every change is only made to satisfy shareholders. They've killed link sharing. They've killed the ability to see updates from your friends and family. They've killed reach for creators. They've killed news and trustworthy i... See more