The secret lives of social media moderators

There is plenty of content that is deemed too violent, sexual, abusive, or otherwise to be viewed on social media. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, they all moderate their content to varying degrees, but if you thought there was some big computer behind it all, you might want to think again.

Real people sift through the content uploaded to these sites, ensuring that while we might never see gruesome sights, they are exposed to them on a constant, daily basis. The BBC spoke with Nairobi-based moderator Mojez about the toll it can take on a moderator's life.

"If you take your phone and then go to TikTok, you will see a lot of activities, dancing, you know, happy things," he said. "But in the background, I personally was moderating, in the hundreds, horrific and traumatising videos. I took it upon myself. Let my mental health take the punch so that general users can continue going about their activities on the platform."

While there are moderators across the world, a large portion are based in East Africa, with many moderators claiming the work has destroyed their mental health. Some have left the industry entirely, while others have come together to form a union.

AI models are in the works to do this moderation, but they need to be trained by people, who will therefore still have to see gruesome and abusive content. Until one such tool can perfectly moderate online spaces, there will be people on the front line.