Content moderation: Social media's sexist assemblages. (July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gerrard, Ysabel; Thornham, Helen
• Other Names: Sujon Zoetanya guest-editor.; Dyer Harry T guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 22:Number 7(2020)
• Page Start: 1266
• Page End: 1286
• Publication Date: 2020-07
• Subjects: Algorithms -- assemblage theory -- content moderation -- gender -- Pinterest -- sexism -- social media; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444820912540
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

This article proposes 'sexist assemblages' as a way of understanding how the human and mechanical elements that make up social media content moderation assemble to perpetuate normative gender roles, particularly white femininities, and to police content related to women and their bodies. It investigates sexist assemblages through three of many potential elements: (1) the normatively gendered content presented to users through in-platform keyword and hashtag searches; (2) social media platforms' community guidelines, which lay out platforms' codes of conduct and reveal biases and subjectivities and (3) the over-simplification of gender identities that is necessary to algorithmically recommend content to users as they move through platforms. By the time the reader finds this article, the elements of the assemblages we identify might have shifted, but we hope the framework remains useful for those aiming to understand the relationship between content moderation and long-standing forms of inequality.