"I Got Flagged for Supposed Bullying, Even Though It Was in Response to Someone Harassing Me About My Disability.": A Study of Blind TikTokers' Content Moderation Experiences

Abstract

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community has consistently focused on the experiences of users moderated by social media platforms. Recently, scholars have noticed that moderation practices could perpetuate biases, resulting in the marginalization of user groups undergoing moderation. However, most studies have primarily addressed marginalization related to issues such as racism or sexism, with little attention given to the experiences of people with disabilities. In this paper, we present a study on the moderation experiences of blind users on TikTok, also known as "BlindToker," to address this gap. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 BlindTokers and used thematic analysis to analyze the data. Two main themes emerged: BlindTokers' situated content moderation experiences and their reactions to content moderation. We reported on the lack of accessibility on TikTok's platform, contributing to the moderation and marginalization of BlindTokers. Additionally, we discovered instances of harassment from trolls that prompted BlindTokers to respond with harsh language, triggering further moderation. We discussed these findings in the context of the literature on moderation, marginalization, and transformative justice, seeking solutions to address such issues.

24 paged, 1 Figure, accepted by CHI'24

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Preliminary Exploration of YouTubers' Use of Generative-AI in Content Creation
• Content Moderation Justice and Fairness on Social Media: Comparisons Across Different Contexts and Platforms
• "Cold, Calculated, and Condescending": How AI Identifies and Explains Ableism Compared to Disabled People
• Third-Party Developers and Tool Development For Community Management on Live Streaming Platform Twitch