DW’s documentary shows how Silicon Valley companies are deleting online content

Deutsche Welle, the German public international broadcaster, today published on YouTube the documentary The cleaners – social media’s shadow industry.

The documentary has around 85 minutes and it covers how companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google (YouTube) are deleting offensive photos and videos from social media sites. A worker tells that he reviews around 25 thousand pictures per day.

The filmmakers are Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck. Last year, they spoke on TED about the price of a “clean” internet:

The description of the documentary: “Manila is home to a gigantic shadow industry of digital cleaning. It employs tens of thousands of people working 10-hour shifts for the big Silicon Valley corporations, deleting offensive photos and videos from social media sites.”

DW says that while examining the stories of five moderators, the film also addresses the global repercussions of online censorship and shows how fake news and hate speech are amplified by social media – which provide platforms for those eager to add fuel to existing social and political conflicts.