Bystanders of Online Moderation: Examining the Effects of Witnessing Post-Removal Explanations

TL;DR

This study reveals that post-removal explanations in online communities not only benefit moderated users but also positively influence bystanders, increasing their engagement and reinforcing social norms.

Contribution

It demonstrates through a large-scale quasi-experimental study that explanations impact bystanders, expanding understanding of transparency effects in online moderation.

Findings

Bystanders increase posting activity after explanations.

Explanations reinforce social norms and community engagement.

Effects observed across two large Reddit communities.

Abstract

Prior research on transparency in content moderation has demonstrated the benefits of offering post-removal explanations to sanctioned users. In this paper, we examine whether the influence of such explanations transcends those who are moderated to the bystanders who witness such explanations. We conduct a quasi-experimental study on two popular Reddit communities (r/askreddit and r/science) by collecting their data spanning 13 months-a total of 85.5M posts made by 5.9M users. Our causal-inference analyses show that bystanders significantly increase their posting activity and interactivity levels as compared to their matched control set of users. Our findings suggest that explanations clarify and reinforce the social norms of online spaces, enhance community engagement, and benefit many more members than previously understood. We discuss the theoretical implications and design recommendations of this research, focusing on how investing more efforts in post-removal explanations can help build thriving online communities.