Values & principles (for moderation etc.)

[desputinski]

Basically the active community agreed upon that moderation in this app should be moderate/liberal. Moderation should be

1. transparent and
2. objective.

Alongside with these values:

1. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
2. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
3. Essential human rights and fundamental freedoms reading list

Discussion: #55

• We have agreed that there should be external values to which the organization should roughly orient itself and which should also be the basis for whether content is "censored" on a platform. However, these values should be interpreted in a clearly liberal way
• A transparently meeting and deciding committee should be responsible for the moderation/deletion of content. Deleted or rejected content will be listed transparently for the public.
• The values are based 1. on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://unric.org/de/allgemeine-erklaerung-menschenrechte/
• The values are based 2. on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: https://unric.org/de/17ziele/

[desputinski]

We also need a list of words with which the backend automatically searches through all calendar entries:

https://www.freewebheaders.com/german-swear-words-list-and-bad-words-free-download/
https://www.freewebheaders.com/youtube-blacklist-words-free-and-youtube-comment-moderation/
https://www.freewebheaders.com/wordpress-comment-blacklist-words_comment-moderation_spam-comments/

The words should not automatically lead to deleting content but go to a moderation group of users who look at the corresponding posts.

[armantorkzaban]

We can define a flagging principle. Like: ❗ be shown next to a post containing flagged words, with explanation the reason behind the flagging.

[desputinski]

I'm afraid, flagging alone is not sufficient according to German law at least. If somebody posts something illegal, the platform is obliged to delete it within 24 hours, I think.

[armantorkzaban]

Flagging could also mean that what you said, the content would go invisible. Please provide a link to the law.

[desputinski]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz

"Umgang mit Beschwerden über rechtswidrige Inhalte
Betreiber sozialer Netzwerke wie Facebook, Twitter und YouTube müssen „offensichtlich rechtswidrige Inhalte innerhalb von 24 Stunden“ nach Eingang einer Beschwerde löschen oder sperren (§ 3 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 NetzDG).[25] Bei komplexeren Fällen soll in der Regel eine Sieben-Tages-Frist gelten, um über eine Löschung oder Sperrung zu entscheiden (§ 3 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 NetzDG).[23]"

https://www.buzer.de/s1.htm?g=Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz+%E2%80%93+NetzDG&f=1

[lukas-h]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz

"Umgang mit Beschwerden über rechtswidrige Inhalte Betreiber sozialer Netzwerke wie Facebook, Twitter und YouTube müssen „offensichtlich rechtswidrige Inhalte innerhalb von 24 Stunden“ nach Eingang einer Beschwerde löschen oder sperren (§ 3 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 NetzDG).[25] Bei komplexeren Fällen soll in der Regel eine Sieben-Tages-Frist gelten, um über eine Löschung oder Sperrung zu entscheiden (§ 3 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 NetzDG).[23]"

https://www.buzer.de/s1.htm?g=Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz+%E2%80%93+NetzDG&f=1

Hi, the NetzDG is only necessary for social networks with 2mio + registered users

Das Gesetz gilt gemäß § 1 Abs. 1 und Abs. 2 NetzDG für Betreiber sozialer > Netzwerke, die im Inland mehr als zwei Millionen registrierte Nutzer haben, aber nicht für E-Mail- und Messenger-Dienste

[desputinski]

Ok, great. You're right. So "social" network means all users of ForDem, not the whole "Fediverse", I guess.
But still we've got to be careful, because, if the authorities dislike our project, they might get nasty, even in relatively free societies like in Germany. So we should pay attention to illegal content at least.

Also see: https://netzpolitik.org/2020/linksunten-indymedia-bleibt-verboten/
https://netzpolitik-org.translate.goog/2020/linksunten-indymedia-bleibt-verboten/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

[armantorkzaban]

I think we are more or less done with this issue and we can call it complete for now.
We have answered the 'what', and what remains is the:
'How' we apply these rules in content moderation.

Do you think we should convert this issue to a Markdown document and take the rest of the discussion to a conversation?

[desputinski]

Not sure about "markdown document" and "conversation", I'm not familiar with the expressions. But I agree, that the discussion is concluded and we can move forward to specific moderation rules/topics/modes.

[armantorkzaban]

@desputinski,
this is an Markdown file: https://github.com/tcfev/forDem-documentation/blob/main/README.md
&
Follows these rules: https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/