Fundamentals of Sensitive Content
What counts as sensitive media
According to Twitter1, examples of sensitive content are
Graphic violence,
Adult content,
Violent sexual conduct,
Gratuitous gore, and
Hateful imagery
Different content types that might concern you
Sensitive content
is the content that breaches norms or standards on social, religious, cultural, psychological, or other grounds.
Characterization of this content depends on individual sensitivities.
Sensitive content is moderated by the administration of the websites and social media platforms and the users.
Inappropriate content
is the content that might be too explicit for a viewer’s age.
Some content could be inappropriate for a child with the suspicion that it might encourage risky behavior, but okay for a more mature child.
Exposure to inappropriate content can be monitored by caregivers with parental controls.
Illegal content
is the content that is punishable by law.
Some content that is defined as illegal in one region may not be in another.
Access to illegal content is blocked by government agencies to protect the citizens.
Inappropriate or sensitive content does not necessarily mean illegal.
How overexposure to sensitive media can affect you
Change your mindset.
Charge your feelings.
Hurt your feelings.
Mislead you.
Radicalize your views.
Balancing sensitive content and censorship
-If a content is not illegal, platform administrations’ intervention might pose concern for freedom of speech.
-Online platforms label sensitive media but leave the decision to view them or not to the users in order not to be practicing censorship.
-You are expected to regulate the visibility of sensitive content based on your individual needs.
What you can do about it
- Deliberately choose your social media platforms based on their audience and content types, and your sensitivities.
-Set your content preferences and filters to hide sensitive content using the settings of the social media platform and search engines.
-Mark your account and content as sensitive, if you have to share sensitive media.
-Ask not to be shown such content when sensitive media appears in your feeds and search results.
-Mute, unfollow, or block the account that has shared the content to not get exposed to similar content from the same source.
-Report sensitive media to be flagged and hidden from users who don’t want to see.
Help yourself by curating the online content you get exposed to based on your sensitivities and needs.
References
1. Twitter’s Sensitive Media Policy, https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/media-policy