India is home to a number of firms engaged in content moderation—the next chapter in its IT capacities after the boom of call centres and BPOs. It was in the 2000s that companies like Meta (then Facebook) began outsourcing moderation to our country and the Philippines. A moderator’s key responsibility is assessing posts and videos flagged by users who cite the violation of guidelines, the tone and nature of the content, and the poster’s intention. They do this by absorbing detailed policies, related to discrimination, abuse and terror.

Their judgement relies on this knowledge as well as their own instincts—it is their ability to assess confusing and nuanced social context that sets them apart from AI tech employed for moderation. Traversing through social media can feel like stepping on a landmine sometimes, even if you carefully curate your fields and tabs. If it weren’t for moderators, known to be underpaid, overworked and desensitised, the Internet would be a far less welcoming place. A Hyderabad-based tech professional, aged 25, reveals what her work as a moderator has taught her about Indian netizens and anti-social behaviour online.