Audience moderators interviewed by IPI highlight that the following tools can be considered when moderating Facebook:
- Delete a comment when it contains aggressive or threatening content or derogatory words and insults. This is done to promote a healthy public discussion. Criticism, no matter how harsh, is permitted, however.
- Hide a comment with abusive content. Moderators generally considered this less effective than deleting as the user and the user’s friends can still see content in question, even if others cannot.
- Ban a user from the media outlet’s Facebook Page when the user has repeatedly posted hateful or abusive comments, even after being warned by the moderators. This is done to remove a user who is seen as persistently undermining the values of a health discussion and the open community that the media organization aims to generate.
- Remove a user from the page, as a warning to deter further abusive comments. Less consequential than banning as the user can like or follow the Page again.
- Disable/turn off comments, although this feature is only available on video posts. This is one when the moderation team does not have the resources to moderate the flow of comments on a video or live stream.
- Block words and set the strength of the profanity filter
- Report a post or a Page that the moderator considers has breached both Facebook’s and the media’s own community standards. Facebook’s stated policy is that it will then assess whether the content or Page should be removed.