As per reports, almost 6 billion posts are removed from online social channels in a year for harassment, bullying, or use of graphic content. These are just posts from the top social media channels. They don’t even include comments or any other type of content from these platforms. Nor do they account for any harmful content from other online sites that don’t come in the “top few” category.

We all know the world of the internet is as scary as it is helpful, which is why we desperately need content moderation to create a safe environment for online interactions.

And the responsibility of content moderation falls on all of us who have some digital real estate—regardless of how small or big it is. AI content moderation plays a crucial role in managing large volumes of user-generated content, supplementing human efforts to detect harmful content and ensure compliance with community guidelines.

On that note, here’s a guide that’ll help you understand exactly what content moderation is and how it works. It also explains how to create a content moderation policy and integrate it into your publishing routine (and how to ethically aggregate social media content).

Let’s get started, shall we?

What is content moderation, and how does it work?

Simply put, content moderation refers to reviewing and managing user-generated content (UGC) online to ensure it adheres to community guidelines. This could be content on your social media platforms, forums, website comment section, or any other online platform.

It’s mainly done to ensure there’s no inappropriate content, hate speech, bad actors, offensive language, explicit images, or anything harmful/toxic that could potentially ruin customer experience and cause problems in your online spaces. Community managers play a crucial role in enforcing community guidelines and maintaining a safe online environment.

To avoid scenarios like this, companies (or even celebrities/influencers) usually set up a moderation policy in which human moderators or artificial intelligence tools (or a mix of both) step in to remove ugly comments and maintain community standards. Community moderators are essential for managing inappropriate content and facilitating constructive conversations within the community.

For example, you get the option to flag or report content on visuals on major social media platforms if the content posted here is problematic, hateful, or illegal. This not only allows you to maintain a positive and collaborative environment in your online communities, but it helps manage user safety and brand reputation and avoids legal complications as well as misinformation.

User generated content types that can be moderated and types of content moderation

When you exist in a digital realm, all parts of your content—including visual, written, audio, etc.- need to be moderated when you exist in a digital realm.

Effective online community management is crucial in creating safe and inclusive digital environments. Experts recommend creating a content moderation policy so you can track which attributes need to be reviewed. To set up a moderation policy, Mary Zhang, the head of marketing at Dgtl Infra, recommends:

“Start by clearly defining your brand values and community guidelines. These should reflect your business ethos and set the tone for acceptable content. For instance, we prioritize respectful dialogue and factual accuracy in our tech-focused community.

Next, establish a tiered system for content violations. We use a “three-strike” rule for minor infractions while zero tolerance for hate speech or illegal content. This balanced approach maintains a positive environment without being overly restrictive.”

Other SMEs (subject matter experts) have also suggested keeping in touch with platform-native rules so you can quickly report any explicit or harmful content on any digital site that you’re using (i.e., you can check out the user policy on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), etc.).

Now, onto the meatier bits—the types of content moderation practices that exist:

• Human Moderation: This is when humans moderate and review content (this is especially helpful when content has nuances or region/audience-specific context and lingos).

• Automated Moderation: This is when content moderation tools flag user-generated content that does not meet community guidelines.

• Hybrid Moderation: This is when both humans and content moderation software work together to balance the benefits of human intervention and automated moderation.

• Pre-Moderation: This content is reviewed by moderators before being published (e.g., posts on subreddits before they’re live).

• Post-Moderation: This content (e.g., comments on community forums) is reviewed by moderators after it has been published.

• Reactive Moderation: This is when users react and report inappropriate content and harmful language (e.g., users can report posts on Instagram).

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Scenarios where content moderation would be helpful

While content moderation practices can be used in many scenarios, here are some of its most important use cases to consider:

• To avoid misinformation: Suppose you’re hosting a live webinar on an important/sensitive topic like law, finance, or divorce mediation, and you find a commentator using false credentials to spread misinformation; you can moderate content there to protect your reputation.

• To prevent bullying and offensive statements: In any online community, there’s a fair chance you’ll see instances of racism, hate tweets, harmful language, bullying, etc. Moderation of objectionable content becomes extremely important in such instances.

• To ensure accuracy and truthfulness: On crowd-sourced platforms (e.g., Wikipedia), content-sharing commutes, user review sites, or job search websites, there’s a big need to maintain accuracy and truth to avoid scams and fake news.

• To shun illegal activities: If there’s instigation of violence or encouragement to try any illegal activity in any of your online communities and platforms, content like that needs to be shunned and removed immediately.

• To protect the end user: In instances where you’re hosting online dating communities or have children participating in your discussions/content, reviewing and moderating content again becomes especially imminent.

As a real-life example, Kayden Roberts, the CMO at CamGo, an online dating app, says on this subject,

“Given the sensitive nature of online interactions and the presence of women who may face unwanted attention, moderation is absolutely critical. Developing a solid content moderation policy is the first step. For us, this involves clearly defining community guidelines that outline acceptable and prohibited behavior on the platform. These guidelines must be transparent and visible to all users, emphasizing safety, respect, and appropriate conduct.

We’ve also found that a hybrid approach—automating the detection of suspicious behavior while ensuring real people review flagged content—ensures smoother moderation and faster response times."

Community Guidelines and Standards

Crafting clear community guidelines for user-generated content is essential for maintaining a positive and respectful online community. Community guidelines serve as a roadmap for content moderators, empowering them to make informed decisions about removing or retaining user-generated content. Effective community guidelines should be specific, clear, and tailored to the community’s needs.

Crafting clear community guidelines for user-generated content

When crafting community guidelines, it’s essential to consider the following key aspects:

• Specificity: Community guidelines should clearly outline what is and isn’t acceptable behavior on the platform. This specificity helps content moderators make consistent decisions and provides users with a clear understanding of the boundaries within the online community.

• Clarity: Guidelines should be easy to understand and free of ambiguity. Avoiding complex language and legal jargon ensures that all community members, regardless of their background, can comprehend the rules.

• Relevance: Guidelines should be tailored to the specific needs and goals of the community. For instance, a forum for professional networking might have different standards compared to a casual social media platform.

• Accessibility: Guidelines should be easily accessible and prominently displayed on the platform. This ensures that users can quickly reference the rules whenever needed, promoting adherence and accountability.

Key aspects of effective community guidelines

Effective community guidelines should include the following key aspects:

• Definition of acceptable behavior: Clearly outline what is considered acceptable behavior on the platform. This might include respectful communication, constructive feedback, and adherence to topic-specific rules.

• Definition of prohibited behavior: Clearly outline what is considered prohibited behavior on the platform. This could encompass hate speech, harassment, spamming, and sharing of explicit or illegal content.

• Consequences for violating guidelines: Clearly outline the consequences for violating community guidelines. This transparency helps users understand the repercussions of their actions, which can range from warnings to permanent bans.

• Reporting mechanisms: Provide clear instructions on how to report prohibited behavior or content. An efficient reporting system empowers community members to take an active role in maintaining a safe and respectful environment.

How to create community guidelines and a content moderation policy?

According to the experts we interviewed, any content moderation policy should begin by establishing your company’s brand values and rules.

For reference, Nick Drewe, an expert with digital strategy experience and the founder of Wethrift, an online platform for shoppers (that has its own content moderation policy), says:

“Implementing a content moderation policy requires a systematic approach. A brand, especially a small business, should start by defining what's acceptable and what's not, considering legal and ethical perspectives (for example, banning hate speech, explicit content, or any form of discrimination).”

[Note: To get started, here’s a content moderation policy template you can refer to create moderation policies for your own business.]

Adding onto what Nick recommends, Casey Meraz, the founder of Juris Digital, a marketing agency for modern law firms, says:

“Designating moderation roles is crucial for consistency. Start by identifying key team members who can handle content moderation. Assign clear roles and duties so everyone knows their part. Ensure they're trained on the brand's guidelines and appropriate responses. This minimizes confusion and keeps the brand voice cohesive.

Setting up a moderation queue ensures content review is systematic. Use tools that allow team members to flag and address content before it goes live. This can be as simple as shared documents or specialized moderation software. Make this step mandatory in your publishing workflow to maintain high-quality and compliant content.”

Many experts also suggest creating a hybrid approach to content moderation. For example, you could leverage content moderation tools to receive active alerts and notifications when users violate your community guidelines. Then, have humans intervene to interpret and act on content nuances.

How to (ethically) aggregate social media content for websites?

First and foremost, if you’re aggregating user-generated content from social media channels for your website (or to post on any other branded online platforms), you need to get the user’s permission and rights to use their content.

For this, you can either directly ask for permissions from the DMs, or you can use a UGC rights management softwarelike Flockler (with this tool, you can link to your terms and conditions, too, so there are fewer legal discrepancies later down the line).

On that note, you can also leverage the social media aggregator tool Flockler offers to collect social proof and get instances of how customers interact with and use your product. Other solutions, like social media listening or monitoring tools, might also do the trick.

Hanna F, the growth marketing manager at Niceboard, a job board software, says,

“The #1 best practice I have for aggregating and repurposing social media content is making it more shareable by tagging/mentioning other accounts in your original posts when appropriate.

We do this on value posts, for example about tips to grow your job board (our industry). We tag one of our users/customers that is active on the respective platform to provide an example of the tip implemented correctly. This encourages those tagged to repost our original post and helps increase reach and impressions.”

Other SMEs recommend that if you’re using aggregated social media content for your website (or for other branded channels), try to ensure you maintain platform nativity and a close link to your brand voice (i.e., think about pushing content that doesn’t use any kind of foul language or tone you otherwise wouldn’t approve of).

As for platform nativity, consider this: A long-form post written specifically for LinkedIn won’t fare well on Twitter (X), which is why you might need to trim it down to ensure it's appropriate and usable for the latter platform.

How to implement content moderation as part of your publishing routine?

When it came to creating and implementing a content moderation process as part of the publication routine, different experts had different tips. For example:

Mary Zhang recommended incorporating AI-assisted moderation tools to handle the bulk of content screening. At Dgtl Infra, they used a combination of keyword filters and sentiment analysis to flag potentially problematic content for human review. This has reduced their moderation time by 60% while improving accuracy. She says,

“To make moderation part of your publishing routine, integrate it into your content management system. We've set up automated checks that scan user-generated content before it goes live. For our own content, we have a pre-publication checklist that includes a moderation review step.”

On the other hand, Casey Meraz said,

“For everyday content moderation, consistency is key. Implement a daily schedule for reviewing and approving content. Encourage team members to monitor multiple times a day to catch issues early. Use analytics tools to track engagement and flag potential problems, keeping things efficient.

When aggregating and monitoring social media content, it's important to maintain a consistent brand voice across platforms. Use monitoring tools to track mentions and engagement. Always credit original sources when repurposing content for your website. Establish guidelines for repurposing to avoid external conflicts and maintain integrity.”

Lastly, Mary Tung, the CEO, and Founder of Lido App, recommended keeping a checklist of criteria that every piece of content must meet before approval. She also said regular team meetings can help discuss any issues or patterns, ensuring everyone stays aligned with the moderation policy.

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Best practices for moderating content

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of tips you can consider for user-generated content moderation:

• If you’re relying on distributed content moderation or reactive content moderation to create a safe atmosphere, try to provide your users with easy-to-use reporting mechanisms.

• Consider each issue with empathy and sensitivity so you don’t mistakenly offend or hurt any communities or their sentiments.

• Try to react to each issue promptly. Ideally, it should be within the first 24-48 hours since the issue was reported to you.

• If you’re relying on human moderators for intervention, try to provide them with adequate resources so they don’t end up ruining their mental health due to disturbing content.

• Regularly update your content moderation policies, especially if you see any repetitive patterns (ideally within every quarter or once every six months).

• Try to balance free speech and hate speech by not over-moderating your content while also creating a safe environment for your users.

• Create plenty of resources that educate readers in a digestible way about the community guidelines of your online spaces.

Next steps

While Flockler is primarily known for its social media aggregation capabilities, we also serve another important use: Moderating UGC on social media sites. In fact, with our solution, you can not only moderate content automatically, but you can also hide posts or blacklist with any inappropriate keywords.

Introducing Garde AI by Flockler

If you’re new to Flockler, we help brands gather, moderate and display social media feeds on websites, webshops, and other digital screens. Now, earlier, you could generate automated feeds, but the moderation happened manually. To strengthen content moderation and lower human effort, we're launching Garde AI, your very own content moderation assistant.

FAQs

1. What is content moderation on social media?

Content moderation on social media refers to reviewing and auditing all user-generated content on your digital sites to ensure it matches your community guidelines.

2. Who is a content moderator?

A content moderator is someone whose job is to oversee content on digital media and assess whether it meets the platform's rules.

3. What are some content moderation guidelines?

Here are some examples of content moderation guidelines: (i) no hate speech, (ii) no illicit or graphic content, (iii) no spam, (iv) no illegal activities, (v) no promotion, (vi) no self-harm, and (vii) no bullying.

4. What does social media content moderation mean?

Social media content moderation involves making sure that the content you create adheres to the community guidelines, platform rules, and legal regulations.

About the author:

Ryan Robinson. I'm a blogger, podcaster, and (recovering) side project addict who teaches 500,000 monthly readers how to start a blog and grow a profitable side business at ryrob.com.