Post Report

When to use it?

All users should have the ability to report an instance of abuse or violation of policies. An option to report a post should be accessible, concise, and specific to use for all.

How does it work?

After a successful report has been submitted, the offending post should be hidden from the user’s feed and the post’s owner should be notified that their post has been reported and why. The reporter should also be able to unhide the post. If multiple reports are made, further action should take place with updates regarding the review and appeals processes.

The original poster should be offered the option to correct or revise their post to remove the offending content or delete the post altogether. This helps educate the original poster around the community guidelines for what is acceptable or not, rather than just removing without explanation other than posting content that violates community guidelines.

Advantages

Reporting systems help to empower users to bring instances of hate to the platform’s attention. Reporting posts can help empower targeted individuals to protect themselves and bring specific users to the platform’s attention while providing specific information on the violations.

Disadvantages

Spam reporting can be used to target specific users or groups, especially in reporting systems that are not as robust or when platforms are under-resourced to effectively mitigate against abuse of the reporting system.

Examples

Report a post screen from Instagram

Report content screen from TikTok

Most platforms have the capability to report a post or content. Most of the interactions then continue, allowing the user to select the type of issue being reported.

References