Who moderates my social media? Locating Indian workers in the global content moderation practices

Abstract

Building on the growing concerns around hate speech and harmful content on social media, this chapter analyzes the processes by which content is moderated on leading social media platforms. The outsourcing practices of platform operators or social media companies to acquire content moderation services from third-party companies have been acknowledged in the public discourse. Details regarding these outsourcing relationships and power mechanisms remain obfuscated, however. Using empirical data from India, this chapter presents a global value chain perspective on the mechanisms by which US-based social media monopolies source content moderation services from Indian information technology business process outsourcing (IT BPO) supplier companies. The agreements established between the two parties direct the content moderation labor process through which Indian workers’ labor power is transformed into productive labor.