Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Struggles To Correctly Moderate The Word 'Hoe' (2021)

Content Moderation Case Study: Facebook Struggles To Correctly Moderate The Word 'Hoe' (2021)

3 years ago
Anonymous $np3LcwuhSi

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20211104/15080147876/content-moderation-case-study-facebook-struggles-to-correctly-moderate-word-hoe-2021.shtml

Summary: One of the many challenges with content moderation is the flexibility of language. When applying blocklists — a list of prohibited terms considered not appropriate for the platform — moderators need to consider innocuous uses of words that, when removed from their context, appear to be violations of the platform’s terms of use.

Multiple platforms have run into the phenomenon known as the "Scunthorpe problem." In this famous case, a town whose name no one would ever mistake for offensive was deemed offensive by moderation blocklists simply because within the name of the town is the word “cunt” which many blocklists forbids.