Session
Organizer 1: Bhatia Aliya, Center for Democracy & Technology
Organizer 2: Elswah Mona, Center for Democracy & Technology
Organizer 2: Elswah Mona, Center for Democracy & Technology
Speaker 1: Miriam Beartrice Wanjiru, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: Marlena Wisniak, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Elswah Mona, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Dhanaraj Thakur, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Marlena Wisniak, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Elswah Mona, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 4: Dhanaraj Thakur, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Moderator
Bhatia Aliya, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Online Moderator
Elswah Mona, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Rapporteur
Isabel Linzer, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: This format guarantees engaging participants in issues related to multilingualism and content moderation. This will foster the discussion and help us develop recommendations based on the breakout group sessions.
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: This format guarantees engaging participants in issues related to multilingualism and content moderation. This will foster the discussion and help us develop recommendations based on the breakout group sessions.
Policy Question(s)
What are examples of where content moderation falls short in the Majority World?
What can companies do to improve multilingual content moderation?
How can governments advance multilingual content moderation?
What will participants gain from attending this session? This workshop will first begin with a short presentation of research and then open up to a discussion with researchers and civil society experts familiar with the unique shortcomings of content moderation in non-English languages and can propose recommendations for how to address these shortcomings. After which, participants will be invited to break out into groups to discuss instances of shortcomings of automated content moderation systems in their languages or contexts and discuss steps for companies and governments to take to improve content moderation in non-English languages.
Description:
People who use social media in languages other than English are routinely subject to inequitable and inconsistent moderation, in part due to the lack of investment in language-specific and regional content moderation, particularly in the Majority World. A project led by CDT looks into how social media companies conduct content moderation in widely spoken languages in the Majority World—specifically in North and East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and South America—and the impact of inconsistent moderation on users, particularly marginalized users and their rights. This workshop will walk through findings from our mixed-method study of content moderation in Maghrebi Arabic, Kiswahili, Tamil, and Quechua particularly as they relate to the proliferation of mis/disinformation in these languages, the role of automation to advance multilingual content moderation, and the labor conditions of moderators tasked with moderating content in non-English languages. This workshop aims to formulate broader advocacy goals to improve content moderation in non-English languages and equip users with more meaningful and transparent access to information in their languages. Additionally, this workshop aims to shed light on the role of governments and companies in advancing multilingual content moderation. The first 15 minutes of this workshop will include a short presentation on our research as well as a 15-minute discussion with civil society experts, content moderators, and researchers from North and East Africa, South Asia, and South America to situate these findings into regional policy advocacy goals and discussions. A majority of this workshop will be dedicated to dividing participants into groups to discuss the potential and challenges of developing fair and equitable content moderation for languages in the Majority World. Finally, we will end this workshop with a discussion with participants to identify recommendations and considerations for paths forward for this work.
People who use social media in languages other than English are routinely subject to inequitable and inconsistent moderation, in part due to the lack of investment in language-specific and regional content moderation, particularly in the Majority World. A project led by CDT looks into how social media companies conduct content moderation in widely spoken languages in the Majority World—specifically in North and East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and South America—and the impact of inconsistent moderation on users, particularly marginalized users and their rights. This workshop will walk through findings from our mixed-method study of content moderation in Maghrebi Arabic, Kiswahili, Tamil, and Quechua particularly as they relate to the proliferation of mis/disinformation in these languages, the role of automation to advance multilingual content moderation, and the labor conditions of moderators tasked with moderating content in non-English languages. This workshop aims to formulate broader advocacy goals to improve content moderation in non-English languages and equip users with more meaningful and transparent access to information in their languages. Additionally, this workshop aims to shed light on the role of governments and companies in advancing multilingual content moderation. The first 15 minutes of this workshop will include a short presentation on our research as well as a 15-minute discussion with civil society experts, content moderators, and researchers from North and East Africa, South Asia, and South America to situate these findings into regional policy advocacy goals and discussions. A majority of this workshop will be dedicated to dividing participants into groups to discuss the potential and challenges of developing fair and equitable content moderation for languages in the Majority World. Finally, we will end this workshop with a discussion with participants to identify recommendations and considerations for paths forward for this work.
Expected Outcomes
Create awareness and knowledge among IGF participants on the limitations of the current content moderation systems in non-English context and how this harms freedom of expression in other countires.
Build a community from the workshop participants who are knowledgeable and aware of the urgency of developing advanced multilingual content moderation that is adequate and fair for users in the Majority world.
Develop a practical set of recommendations for both governments and companies to improve multilingual content moderation.
Hybrid Format: We will divide our participants into different groups. Online participants will also be divided into groups (depending on their size) to discuss and develop their own recommendations. A moderator from the workshop will join them and help them advance the discussion on time.