Livestream Commenting Rules Violation

Quick and clear notification when a comment violates rules.

How does this mitigate hate?

Livestream comments can be a hotbed for hateful and harassing comments, as viewers are provided an opportunity to comment hateful or harassing speech that will be immediately seen by other viewers in the livestream. It is important that viewers who violate the community agreements are quickly and clearly notified that they broke the rules and why.

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When to use it?

Platforms that experience hateful or harassing comments in livestreams, should use this pattern to notify users of rules violations and potential consequences.

Including this pattern before the issue arises could help to slow the use of hateful or harassing comments in livestreams, mitigating the spread of hateful comments through influence and network harassment.

How does it work?

The violating comment should either be removed or censored according to the terms of service and community guidelines.

Users should be warned that they violated the guidelines and their comment has been censored or removed.

Users should be shown the relevant guidelines or rules to familarize themselves with the platform’s rules.

If the violation is the final warning before removal, that should be specified in the warning message.

Other users in the room, should see that a comment was removed for violating the terms of service but not be allowed to access the comment.

Advantages

Providing users with a notification after they violate the rules helps them to understand the basis of their violation, and communicate the consequences of their actions before removal.

The reduction of commenters from rules violation notifications can help to slow the spread of more comments by warning users of potential consequences if their actions continue.

References

ADL. “The Unique Challenges of Audio Content Moderation Part Two: Static vs. Livestreaming Audio.” Anti-Defamation League, June 30, 2021. https://www.adl.org/blog/the-unique-challenges-of-audio-content-moderation-part-two-static-vs-livestreaming-audio.

Douek, Evelyn, and Quinta Jurecic. “The Lawfare Podcast: The Challenges of Audio Content Moderation.” Podcast. Lawfare, April 22, 2021. https://www.lawfareblog.com/lawfare-podcast-challenges-audio-content-moderation.

“How Platforms Can Stem Abuses of Livestreaming after the Storming of the Capitol.” Anti-Defamation League, January 15, 2021. https://www.adl.org/blog/how-platforms-can-stem-abuses-of-livestreaming-after-the-storming-of-the-capitol.

Jiang, Jialun Aaron, Charles Kiene, Skyler Middler, Jed R. Brubaker, and Casey Fiesler. “Moderation Challenges in Voice-Based Online Communities on Discord.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 3, no. CSCW (November 7, 2019): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359157.