Sarah Gilbert

Research associate and Research Director of the Citizens and Technology Lab

Sarah Gilbert, research associate and research director of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University. She is an expert on content moderation and data ethics – studying Reddit as well as the labor of community moderators.

Gilbert says: 

“More than a year after moderators shut down large swaths of Reddit in response to limiting access to the platform's API, the site has announced a new policy that would make the most common form of protest – setting communities to private –more difficult. In addition to protesting, the ability to shift public communities to private access is commonly used for legitimate purposes, like protecting communities that experience a surge in activity, and illegitimate ones, like fostering hate under the protection of privacy. Unlike the decision to limit access to the API, which left many moderators who relied on third-party applications and tools supported by the API in a lurch, this decision accounts for the wide-range of purposes for going private. The effectiveness of these measures remains to be seen; however, it's promising to see potential issues identified and mitigated before they arise. 

“Further, while the announcement acknowledges the ‘elephant in the room’ about the new policy's effect of stymying protest, this decision does not in and of itself prevent moderators from protesting. The community I study and moderate, r/AskHistorians, has participated in several protests, but without going private. We have found that staying open but limiting participation has allowed us to broadcast our message and provide users with contextual and historical information and come away with a better understanding of the cause. Finally, mods might find that as the company has gone public and therefore more protective of its reputation, that the most effective form of protest might not be going private, but rather to not moderate at all.”