Custodians of the Internet
Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media
"Most users want their Twitter feed, Facebook page, and YouTube comments to be free of harassment and porn. Whether faced with 'fake news' or livestreamed violence, 'content moderators'--who censor or promote user-posted content--have never been more important. This is especially true when the tools that social media platforms use to curb trolling, ban hate speech, and censor pornography can also silence the speech you need to hear. [The author] provides an overview of current social media practices and explains the underlying rationales for how, when, and why these policies are enforced. In doing so, [the author] highlights that content moderation receives too little public scrutiny even as it is shapes social norms and creates consequences for public discourse, cultural production, and the fabric of society. Based on interviews with content moderators, creators, and consumers, this...book is...for anyone who's ever clicked 'like' or 'retweet.'"--
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest violence, death, or criminal harm. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Balanced tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3002-6143-1
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL34161768M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More Nonfiction books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
Fusarium Mycotoxins
by Anne E. Desjardins
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction, a similar reading length.
Global Politics of Defense Reform (Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies)
by Thomas Bruneau, Harold Trinkunas
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction, a similar reading length.
In Defense of Globalization
by Jagdish Bhagwati
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction, a similar reading length.
Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities
by Anthony H. Cordesman, Martin Kleiber
Why it fits: shares Nonfiction, a similar reading length.