Call for submissions: Human-machine interaction in content moderation

We are looking for perspectives and experiences from Africa, Asia and beyond.

How does the interaction of (partially) automated systems and human intervention work in content moderation? Where do technological filters and human judgement complement each other – and where do friction points arise? What factors influence the balance between efficiency, fairness and transparency in this area? 

We are looking for activists, researchers, journalists and NGOs who are working on these issues and would like to contribute their knowledge to our research! The call is therefore not only open to individuals, but also explicitly to civil society organisations. Existing work or projects as well as new ideas can be submitted.

What is it about?

The research project Human in the Loop? Autonomy and Automation in Socio-Technical Systems investigates how human-machine interaction works in (partially) automated decision-making processes through various case studies. One focus is on content moderation: our aim is to find out which factors influence this interaction and how it could be organised better.

This call focuses on perspectives and experiences from outside Europe and North America. Countries such as Kenya or Nigeria play a central role in moderating content for global platforms such as TikTok, Instagram/Facebook or YouTube. At the same time, civil society initiatives demanding better working conditions are increasingly coming to the fore. This increased awareness of human costs and factors involved in moderating digital communication spaces offers an important opportunity to focus more on global challenges and local solutions.

Why submit?

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to the joint exchange on innovative approaches in content moderation! Your experiences will help us to ask the right questions and identify challenges. We aim to derive and implement recommendations for improving the design of hybrid moderation systems and make them available to the right stakeholders. Your insights will not only feed into our research – we also want to initiate an open dialogue that will benefit all interested parties. We offer:

• Publication of selected contributions in a scientific publication 
• A virtual exchange event bringing together experts from both practice and research 
• A prize of 500 € for the best contribution 

The selection will be organised by the research team, taking into account the relevance to the following topics.

What kind of submissions are we looking for?

We welcome practical insights and fresh perspectives, whether in form of articles, essays, reports, interviews, audiovisual projects or creative formats. Contributions that address the following questions are particularly welcome: 

• Working reality: What challenges do moderators face on a daily basis? What support do they receive? Where is the greatest need for action based on practical experience?
• Global perspectives: What special challenges arise when working with content in a foreign language, and due to cultural, social or legal discrepancies between moderators and the content’s context?
• Automation & AI: Can automated systems help reduce the psychological burden on human moderators? What technological solutions make sense – and where does automation go wrong?
• Best practices: What sorts of approaches and experience did you develop regarding challenges and solutions in content moderation? How have technological solutions performed in relation to human support?

Details

• Format: Contributions can be submitted in standard file formats (e.g., Word, PDF) via email. 
• Written contributions: Maximum of five A4 pages (excl. references, transcripts or data sets).
• Other formats: Submissions which are not articles/essays (written pieces in the broader sense) should be based on this standard.
• Submission: Please send your contribution to Sarah Spitz via sarah.spitz@hiig.de. 
• Submission deadline: 30 April 2025.

About our research 

The research project Human in the Loop investigates how human involvement can be better integrated into automated decision-making processes to ensure their quality, transparency and traceability. Through the analysis of four case studies, the project identifies factors that influence decisions, as well as errors, weaknesses and strengths of all the technical systems and people involved. Key issues are the design of meaningful human-machine interactions, the importance of human decisions in ensuring the quality of automation, and the assurance of legal certainty, transparency and traceability in these interactions. It will also analyse the requirements for human-machine interaction in relation to technical systems, human decision-makers, their context and environment. The Human in the Loop project is funded by the Mercator Foundation.