I’m pleased to report that, after many, many months in the works, my article on commercial content moderation has appeared in the Atlantic today. The story has taken many forms over the past few months of work on it, and has undergone necessary evolutions in response to rapid developments in social media-related conversations, and public pushback against the incredible power these “not media companies” have over many people’s media environment. The addition of CCM to the discussion adds an important, yet frequently hidden, nuance to conversations of the social media production cycle, and making it known can only help the process of making the public debate around these issues more accurate and full. I’m pleased to have contributed in this way. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to not have received substantive responses from the firms I contacted.
For those wishing for a definitional primer on this topic that includes a broader discussion of content moderation, in general, please take a look at this short encyclopedia entry.