Content Moderation: Two Histories and Three Emerging Problems

The technical challenges of identifying toxic content are so immense, they can often eclipse the fact that identification is just one element of ‘content moderation’ as a much broader sociotechnical practice. Considering the broader historical context of content moderation helps to explain why moderation is so difficult, identify why good technical solutions don’t always make good social or political ones, and reframe what problems we’re even trying to solve. I will close by highlighting three problems that I hope will open provocative and challenging questions for those working on moderation as a technical problem.