1 Comment
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Tom Schwoegler's avatar

The content moderation and moderators are examined in the extraordinary film "The Cleaners".

The film is both fascinating and disturbing.

"Enter a hidden third world shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the Internet rids itself of what it doesn't like. Here we meet five “digital scavengers”, among thousands of people outsourced from Silicon Valley, whose job is to delete “inappropriate” content of the net. In a parallel struggle, we meet people around the globe whose lives are dramatically affected by online censorship. A typical “cleaner” must observe and rate thousands of often deeply disturbing images and videos every day, leading to lasting psychological impacts.

Yet underneath their work lie profound questions around what makes an image art or propaganda and what defines journalism. Where exactly is the point of balance for social media to be neither an unlegislated space nor a forum rife with censorship? "

Here is a clip from the CBC interview with the filmmakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwbwxStnI3M

IMDB link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7689936/

Expand full comment
ErrorError