"‘Dysfunctional’ appeals and failures of algorithmic justice in Instagram and TikTok content moderation" - interview transcripts

This is the repository concerning the interview connected to the above study, 12 interviews carried out with censored, marginalised content creators in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Australia and the USA.The linked study examines users’ perceptions of justice when using appeals on Instagram and TikTok, focusing on the barriers de-platformed users across fields like activism, sex work, sex education and LGBTQIA+ self-expression face when using these platforms’ automated appeals to recover their de-platformed content and/or accounts. Examining appeals from a platform governance standpoint and drawing from fairness and due process literature, this study finds concerning loopholes within these platforms’ appeals, leaving room for discrimination, fraud and scams and leading to user disempowerment. Through interviews with de-platformed users, this paper reveals significant barriers faced by particularly transgender and sex working users when recovering their de-platformed accounts through in-platform appeals. With metaphors of an ‘algorithmic cop, jury and judge’, this paper concludes that the needs of marginalised users have been designed out of content moderation and of platforms’ processes, leading them to experience the appeals system as opaque, unfair and unjust.

本数据集关联上述研究的访谈内容，共对英国、爱尔兰、意大利、澳大利亚及美国的12名遭内容封禁且身处边缘群体的内容创作者开展了访谈。本关联研究聚焦用户在Instagram和TikTok平台使用申诉流程时的正义感知，重点考察行动主义、性工作、性教育以及LGBTQIA+自我表达等领域的被封号用户，在通过平台自动化申诉流程恢复被封禁内容或账号过程中所面临的各类障碍。本研究从平台治理视角展开申诉机制分析，并依托公平性与正当程序相关文献开展研究，结果发现上述平台的申诉流程存在值得警惕的漏洞，为歧视、欺诈与诈骗行为提供了可乘之机，最终导致用户权益受损。本研究通过对被封号用户的访谈发现，跨性别群体与性工作者群体在通过平台内申诉流程恢复账号时，面临尤为突出的障碍。本研究以“算法式警察、陪审团与法官”为隐喻，最终得出结论：平台在内容审核与流程设计中，已然将边缘群体的用户需求排除在外，致使这些用户认为申诉体系不透明、有失公允且毫无正义性可言。