Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media

by Tarleton Gillespie

A revealing and gripping investigation into how social media platforms police what we post online—and the large societal impact of these decisions

Most users want their Twitter feed, Facebook page, and YouTube comments to be free of harassment and porn. Whether faced with “fake news” or livestreamed violence, “content moderators”—who censor or promote user‑posted content—have never been more important. This is especially true when the tools that social media platforms use to curb trolling, ban hate speech, and censor pornography can also silence the speech you need to hear.
 
In this revealing and nuanced exploration, award‑winning sociologist and cultural observer Tarleton Gillespie provides an overview of current social media practices and explains the underlying rationales for how, when, and why these policies are enforced. In doing so, Gillespie highlights that content moderation receives too little public scrutiny even as it is shapes social norms and creates consequences for public discourse, cultural production, and the fabric of society. Based on interviews with content moderators, creators, and consumers, this accessible, timely book is a must‑read for anyone who’s ever clicked “like” or “retweet.”

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology, Sociology, Internet, Social Media, Social Justice, Politics

296 pages, Paperback

Published August 24, 2021

About the author

Tarleton Gillespie is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research New England, part of the Social Media Collective research group. He is an affiliated associate professor at Cornell University, in the Department of Communication and the Department of Information Science. He cofounded the blog Culture Digitally.

He is the author of Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture (MIT, 2007), the co-editor of Media Technologies: Essays on Communication, Materiality, and Society (MIT, 2014); his newest book is Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions that Shape Social Media (Yale, 2018).

(Text is from the author's website, distributed under a Creative Commons by-nc license.)

Reviews

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was eagerly awaiting the time when I could dig into this one as it covers a topic that is a major issue in these modern times. I am not a big social media user - I have a Facebook account that I barely use but I do use my Twitter account, mainly for bookish things such as posting reviews. I find the subject matter of the book intriguing, how exactly do we moderate information on social media without affecting freedom of speech? Is moderation just another form of censorship? These are questions I am interested in reading the arguments both for and against.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite get what I was expecting. The knowledge is almost too basic here. I feel this is a book that would be accessible for those who don't already know a lot about social media and, as a result, would find the information useful as well as interesting. I have to be honest, I knew most of the content before reading this so I didn't learn anything new. I like to read non-fiction to add to my knowledge of particular subjects so I was disappointed I could find nothing new within this title.

I did appreciate that Gillespie backed-up certain situations with court cases providing evidence of how these decisions have an impact in the real world. I would've enjoyed this more had it been more in-depth as there is no doubt that Gillespie knows exactly what he's talking about. I hope he writes a deeper analysis in the future as I for one would love to read it.

Many thanks to Yale University Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book covering much about social media and would be really good for someone who doesn't know much at all about it already. I liked the information on content moderation. I also liked the fact that court cases and evidence were presented to back up some of the laws. I wish the information went a little deeper though overall. I did like the writing style and found the book easy to read and absorb. I don't read a lot of non-fiction so I appreciate that.

Thanks to Tarleton Gillespie and Yale University Press for an advance copy.

[Alexander Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an excellent description of how content moderation happens, and how it functions (good and bad). It also offers a particular perspective that could not have been undertaken by anyone except someone working inside of a large technological institution like Microsoft. There is a lot of value that came out of this book with a lot of well informed opinions.

I did have a few critiques, largely these are things that Gillespie readily admits he is not expert in (having spoken with him at a conference), but still are important nontheless. For example, there is very little consideration of the literal infrastructure of the internet and how it plays a part in certain limitations. Additionally, while there is a lot of interest in looking at content that goes against platforms' community guidelines/terms of service, it rarely looks at how they are negotiated through usage. Seeing successes of negotiation are often just as informative as their failures.

[Gamespacenl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbly written (academic) book on content moderation on platforms. Recommended for any media/comms scholar & student.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a FASCINATING read about how moderation works on social media platforms, discussing the speech implications and corporate motives as well as providing factual information about what happens and how it happens. Given everything that's going on, an essential read.

[Calvin Isch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gillepsie covers the ins and outs of speech governance on social media platforms. One thing is clear--when governing the internet consistency is an unattainable goal (one still worth pursuing).

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb introduction to content moderation. The key takeaway from this book is that content moderation is not only necessary but the actual essence of a platform. I had never thought of it that way, but after reading this book, my thinking on what a social media platform actually is has expanded quite significantly. The writing was straightforward, thought-through and effective.

The content moderation discussions I usually have concern issues of political speech and it’s after effects. The book introduced me to conversations regarding nudity, pornography and made me think in ways I haven’t before how social media platforms have assigned themselves the role of determining what is societally moral and immoral. The chapter on breastfeeding pictures was especially eye opening and informed thoroughly on both the difficulties and implications of moderation.

This was a great read to contextualize Elon’s disastrous decisions over at Twitter, especially the disappointing and dangerous decision to fire the majority of Twitter’s contracted force, which will primarily affect moderation efforts. Reading this book really highlights that Elon knows nothing about speech on social media and will probably cause Twitter to collapse on itself because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what the platform actually offers as a service.

Sometimes I wish he’d gone a bit deeper, but as an intro, it works.

[dots · Rating 4 out of 5]

even six years on, Gillespie's book stands as a fantstic overview of legal and social issues surrounding content moderation on social media. reading this after the implementation of the DSA and other legal instruments that promote transparency, the landscape Gillespie paints is (thankfully) entirely different than what we know today.

this book is accessible, and the writing very much holds your hand to lead you to its points. the examples (like the whole breastfeeding vs porn chapter) are tangible as well as illustrative, and make sense to a reader who may only be a superficial user of social media.

you don't need to have comprehensive understanding of lacking legal regimes or conflicting fundamental rights to get this book's message. although that, in essence, is exactly what Gillespie is laying out. the writing is done in such a way that you grasp the sketchiness of how content moderation is currently run, and in a way that you intuitively get how unfair and dodgy the whole setup is. this book shines a light on just how little we know about how our beloved socials are run, while holding your hand the entire time.

this is a salt of the earth criticism of how big social makes its own rules at the expense of users. would recommend.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonus star for featuring me on pages 157-8.

This is a good overview of content moderation. There are many small case studies in how various platforms have learned to tackle content moderation and their individual solutions. It ends with a conclusion bringing up the discussion with the topic of fake news and how platforms are tackling how what is hosted on their sites can affect countries as a whole.

In some ways, this book is trying to do too much, but if you are looking for a breadth-focused discussion on content moderation, this is a good book. It is an interesting snapshot of how the social media became what it is now after all of the platforms stumbled (and continue to stumble) all over themselves. Content moderation is a tricky issue. I think young people in college would find this interesting. In a world where the
Internet does not stay the same, it’s nice to have books outlining how it has changed and why.

Could have had more discussion on the affects of content moderation on the worker’s who are tasked with seeing the evils of the world every working moment, but again, this is breadth-focused and not depth-focused

[Shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this broad discussion, Custodians of the Internet is laying the groundwork for our emerging conversation about the role the platforms have played during the growth of the web as our dominant form of media, and the role we want these platforms to play in public discourse going forward. This is part of a larger discussion about not only moderation, harassment and free speech, but also data privacy, the gig economy, microtargeting, algorithmic bias, and more. The distribution of power and responsibility will shape our future in ways we have only begun to comprehend. more

[David Cuen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book and its approach, even if it's basic knowledge. Not only explains how moderation works for those who don't know anything about it, but it's also backed up with serious research cross platform. This is not a vs Facebook book (there are plenty already, no need for more), not even a vs social media book - it genuinely tries to explain why platforms moderate the way they do and why it's incredibly imperfect. Good opinions also on how to improve but that fell just a tiny bit short of what I would have expected

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive, well-researched book on content moderation. I am not sure how useful his recommendations are in terms of workability (he admitted these practical limitations) but the book is still a very detailed overview on content moderation and how this is an essential (and not ancillary) job of what platforms do.

The book is also sometimes too wordy, especially the last two chapters. But I still learned a lot from it and would recommend.

[Ico Maly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, nuanced, balanced and insightful book on content moderation in the digital era. The author's main argument - namely that content moderation is at the heart of what digital platforms do - is very productive. It allows us to ask the question: HOW should platforms moderate, instead of raising the same old question -should they moderate. If all platforms moderate, we can urge to evaluate that moderation from a democratic point of view.

[Farhana · Rating 5 out of 5]

My review will be biased. I'm a big fan of Tarleton's work in the content moderation space. This book is an OG classic for any trust and safety researcher.

For non T&S folks, this is a great book if you want to learn about how online platforms (including social media) deal with "problematic content."

[cellus · Rating 3 out of 5]

some things slightly outdated, but raises interesting ways of looking at online communities and their policing. breastfeeding content was a slightly strange case study to use, but maybe there were no better alternatives...

[Courtney Tabor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly an important book for Internet/media researchers but repetitive, bogged down by ivory tower language at times, and I’m not sure about the final take that we could/should have platform facilitated data driven civic engagement.

[Márcio Moretto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Custodians of the Internet, de Tarleton Gillespie, é uma leitura essencial para entender como as plataformas digitais moldam o espaço público contemporâneo. O livro desmonta o mito da neutralidade tecnológica e revela que a moderação de conteúdo é central — e não periférica — ao funcionamento dessas plataformas. Gillespie expõe como decisões invisíveis definem o que pode ser dito, quem pode falar e quem é silenciado, mostrando os limites de soluções automatizadas, a precarização do trabalho dos moderadores humanos e os impactos desiguais sobre grupos vulneráveis. Com escrita clara e argumentos sólidos, o autor convida à reflexão crítica sobre o poder desproporcional que empresas privadas exercem sobre a liberdade de expressão no ambiente digital. Uma leitura provocadora e indispensável para quem se interessa por internet, política e justiça social.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview that puts the current controversies over content moderation into broader context.

[Nate C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gillespie gets right to the point and clearly understands the complexity of his subject.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I knew too much about this when I started reading. The beginning was interesting, the second part a little boring. However, if you have not read a lot on the topic, this is a good book

[Elijah Tangenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to internet moderation for people relatively new to the subject.

[szymborskalyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent even handed take on the problem of platform moderation.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful 101 on content moderation - even if the field has continued to swiftly evolve.

[miki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watch me add another academic book to my reading challenge this year just so I don't lag behind. Finished this in 1.5 days.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olha que finalmente terminei esse livro.

[Gigi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my upcoming dissertation on content moderation. Really well written in a simple, accessible way that opens up a million different ideas and debates.

[MrRenzol · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has worked in social media professionally, this book didn't teach me a whole lot. If you're new to social media or even a somewhat normal user though you might find something out. The main thing this book does is give a bit more background into why certain decisions were made to shape how content management works today.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.