Content Moderators review user posts, images, videos, and audio to identify and remove violations like hate speech, explicit material, and misinformation. They enforce platform guidelines and legal requirements while managing the emotional demands of reviewing disturbing content daily.
What you’ll learn:
- Content Moderators work with AI-assisted tools and automated filters to screen high volumes of content. They apply human judgment to interpret context, cultural factors, and cases where automated systems fall short.
- Review the 12 essential skills section below to see what qualities support success in content moderation, from empathy and cultural sensitivity to crisis response and regulatory compliance.
- Zevo provides mental health support programs for content moderation teams globally and offers the Zevo Accreditation Program (ZAP), a CPD-approved certification for Trust and Safety professionals.
- Moderators handle multiple content formats across platforms (including live streams, gaming chats, and social media posts) and work within various operational models, from in-house teams to outsourced or hybrid arrangements providing 24/7 coverage.
- The position demands processing disturbing material like graphic violence, self-harm content, and harassment, which requires structured wellbeing support, peer networks, and evidence-based interventions to prevent burnout and vicarious trauma.
- Success requires balancing speed with accuracy, maintaining consistent decisions across thousands of cases, collaborating with legal and product teams for policy improvements, and adapting to new threats like coordinated misinformation campaigns.
What is a Content Moderator?
Content Moderators have been in the news recently, including being discussed at the Senate hearing last week. But what does a Content Moderator actually do?
This article outlines the core responsibilities of content moderators and the potential effects on their wellbeing.
A Moment in Your Review Queue
You’re halfway through your shift when a borderline case lands in your queue. The post blurs the line between dark humor and hate speech, and you have seconds to decide while 150+ items wait. You check the guidelines, weigh the context, and mark your decision, knowing it might be escalated. The next item displays graphic violence. You pause, take a breath, and draw on your training before continuing.
Roles and Responsibilities of Content Moderators
The standard Content Moderator job description typically includes:
Ensuring Compliance with Community Guidelines
Reviewing user-generated content, including text, images, videos, and audio, to confirm compliance with community guidelines, terms of service, and legal requirements. This work covers image moderation, video moderation, audio moderation, and increasingly live-stream moderation across different platforms and formats.
Upholding Platform Policies and Legal Requirements
Applying platform moderation policies by identifying and removing content that violates community guidelines, such as hate speech, explicit material, harassment, or misinformation.
Moderators must also ensure regulatory compliance with frameworks such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), GDPR, and COPPA. This includes legal obligations for takedown notices and transparency reporting.
Moderators must enforce platform guidelines consistently and fairly, which can be challenging when interpreting ambiguous or borderline content that may not clearly violate guidelines.
Types of Content Moderation Models
Different platforms use a range of moderation models based on their needs. Pre-moderation means reviewing content before it goes live, while post-moderation addresses content after publication. Reactive moderation responds to user reports, and distributed moderation involves the community in the process. Each approach has unique trade-offs between user experience, safety, and resource use.
Identifying and Mitigating Potential Harm
Assessing the potential risks associated with diverse types of egregious and non-egregious content, such as the likelihood of harm to users, legal implications, or damage to the platform’s reputation.
Engaging with Users Effectively
Communicating with users regarding content moderation decisions, providing explanations or instructions for policy violations, and handling user appeals or complaints. Moderators reconsider actions if needed while balancing user rights and platform policies.
Addressing Complex Moderation Challenges
Escalating complex or sensitive issues to senior moderators, managers, or legal teams for further review and action when necessary. Well-defined escalation procedures ensure that high-risk content, legal issues, and cases requiring notification of authorities are managed correctly.
Identifying Patterns and Trends in User Content
Analyzing trends in user-generated content, identifying patterns of abusive behavior or policy violations, and providing insights to improve moderation processes or policies.
Tracking moderation metrics such as accuracy rate, response time, throughput, and escalation rate helps teams measure performance and identify areas for improvement through regular QA calibration sessions.
Promoting a Safe and Positive Online Environment
Working with the platform’s community to promote a positive and safe environment, answering questions, and addressing concerns related to content moderation.
Staying Updated on Best Practices
Participating in ongoing training programs to stay updated on platform policies, legal requirements, and best practices for content moderation, to ensure moderators are equipped to handle evolving challenges.
This includes knowing how automated moderation and machine learning systems work with human reviewers, and recognising when automated filters might make mistakes.
High-Volume Content Management
Dealing with a high volume of content can be overwhelming, requiring moderators to efficiently prioritize and process many submissions within tight timeframes. This applies across formats such as in-game chat, app content, and e-commerce listing review.
Ensuring Transparency and Accountability
Documenting moderation actions, decisions, and communications with users to ensure transparency and accountability.
Working with Cross-Functional Teams
Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including legal, product, engineering, and customer support teams, to address content moderation challenges and improve platform safety measures.
Building Your Moderation Capability
Organizations must decide between in-house moderation teams, outsourced moderation to third-party providers, or a hybrid moderation model. In-house teams offer greater control and cultural alignment but require significant investment. Outsourced solutions provide scale and 24/7 coverage but may sacrifice contextual nuance. Many platforms adopt hybrid approaches to balance these considerations.
Crisis Management for Content Moderators
Moderators must be prepared to respond quickly to emergent issues such as viral misinformation, coordinated harassment campaigns, or live-streamed violence, which may require swift and decisive action to mitigate harm.
Self-Care and Support: Managing the Emotional Toll
Content moderation wellbeing is at a near-constant state of peril.
Reviewing sensitive or harmful content, including graphic violence, explicit material, hate speech, and self-harm, can take an emotional toll on human moderators and require coping strategies to manage the psychological impact.
Research from NCBI and Behavioral Sciences shows that more than one quarter of commercial Content Moderators report moderate to severe psychological distress and low wellbeing, with higher exposure to disturbing content linked to greater levels of distress.
Using self-care strategies and seeking support from colleagues or mental health resources can help manage the emotional demands of this work.
Content Moderators help maintain the safety and trustworthiness of online platforms, which supports a positive user experience and a healthy digital community.
12 Essential Skills for Content Moderators
Content moderation is a demanding role that requires a combination of skills, qualities, and attributes to manage the challenges of moderating user-generated content. These skills required for content moderator positions are often highlighted during content moderator interview questions and should be featured prominently on a content moderator skills resume.
Here are 12 essential skills and qualities for Content Moderators:
1. Empathy and Emotional Resilience
At Zevo, we believe this is the most important quality that Content Moderators need to be able to deal with from the daily onslaught of egregious content. Dealing with sensitive or disturbing content can take an emotional toll on moderators, so empathy and emotional resilience are important for maintaining mental wellbeing and providing support to users in distress.
Resilience can be learned and improved with support and training, especially through emotional regulation, peer support, and developing problem-solving skills.
2. Identifying Subtle Violations
As part of the content screening process, moderators need to carefully review and analyze content for policy violations, requiring a keen eye for detail to identify subtle cues or indicators of problematic material.
3. Strong Communication Skills
Clear and effective communication is essential for conveying moderation decisions to users, collaborating with team members, and escalating issues to senior staff or other departments.
4. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Moderators must apply critical thinking skills to assess complex content issues, make informed decisions, and respond appropriately to emergent challenges or policy ambiguities.
5. Cultural Sensitivity and Diversity Awareness
Recognizing cultural factors and diverse perspectives is important for moderating content in a global context and avoiding unintentional biases or misinterpretations.
6. Adaptability in Dynamic Environments
Content moderation environments are dynamic and constantly evolving, so moderators must be adaptable and flexible in responding to changing priorities, policies, and emergent issues.
7. Ethical Integrity and Trust
Maintaining ethical standards and acting with integrity helps build user trust in moderation decisions, especially when handling difficult or controversial content.
8. Proficiency in Moderation Tools
Moderators need to be comfortable with technology and skilled in using moderation tools and platforms. Modern tools include content queues, image and video recognition, and reporting dashboards for performance tracking and quality assurance.
9. Time Management and Prioritization
With a high volume of inappropriate content to moderate, moderators must effectively manage their time, prioritize tasks, and maintain productivity to meet moderation goals and deadlines.
10. Teamwork and Collaboration
Content moderation often involves working closely with other teams. Strong teamwork and collaboration help resolve issues and improve the process.
11. Respect for User Rights and Privacy
Moderators must respect user rights and privacy while enforcing platform policies, ensuring that moderation actions are proportionate and respectful of user autonomy and dignity. This includes understanding data privacy compliance requirements when handling user information during investigations.
12. Continuous Learning and Adaptation
Staying updated on industry trends, emerging threats, and best practices for content moderation requires a commitment to continuous learning and adaptation to effectively address evolving challenges.
By possessing these skills and qualities, Content Moderators can manage the demands of moderating user-generated content while upholding platform safety, user trust, and community standards.
If you are exploring content moderator jobs or preparing for a role in this field, developing these competencies is essential for success in Trust and Safety positions.
Need Help with Content Moderation?
For more information on how Zevo Health can support your content moderation teams, don’t hesitate to contact us.
