Social media platform Bluesky is rolling out a new feature that allows users to personalise how content is moderated in their feeds.
The social platform has announced that it will be making its moderation tool, Ozone, open-source, enabling developers to create extra moderation services for users to choose from.
With the update, users will have the flexibility to expand the scope of moderation according to their preferences. They can opt for additional moderation services that tag, annotate, or hide specific types of posts.
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber said, "You can build all sorts of different moderation services and customize your experience to create the kind of community you want."
She added, "Beyond that, you’re going to be able to mix and match these in different ways, and we’ve put out the open-source tooling for that."
Bluesky, a social app, was funded by Twitter, and has former Twitter boss Jack Dorsey as a board member.
"We’re creating a version of social media where it's built by many people, and it still comes together as a cohesive, easy-to-use experience," the company says.
Ozone is a tool that enables individuals and teams to work together in reviewing and labelling content on the network.
Bluesky currently maintains a dedicated team responsible for content moderation, alongside its own set of guidelines that users must adhere to.
Content moderation involves monitoring and reviewing user-generated content to ensure it complies with platform guidelines, removing inappropriate material when necessary.
Bluesky explained the feature thus, "For example, someone could make a moderation service that blocks photos of spiders from Bluesky — let’s call it the Spider Shield. If you get a jump scare from seeing spiders in your otherwise peaceful nature feed, you could install this moderation service and immediately any labeled spider pictures would disappear from your experience."
The new custom filters will complement Bluesky's current moderation system, but third-party servers will have the option to disable its moderation entirely.
The company wrote, "Ozone, the open source moderation labeling system we’re releasing today, lets you set up a service like a blocklist, but more nuanced — instead of just adding accounts, you can label specific posts too. You will have access to a reporting queue, and users will be able to send reports via the in-app reporting flow."
The users would be able to set custom labels, and specify what those labels should do.
Graber told Decoder, "Moderation services will not be tied to individual users, and multiple people can manage them. Tooling designed for teams and communities can help take the burden off individuals and make it possible to run a sustainable moderation service."
"This is something that I think is really going to move forward the state of the industry," she said, adding, "And as far as I know, nobody’s done exactly what we were doing before, which is have this piece of moderation be something that any third party, any user, or anyone who wants to come in — even if they’re non-technical — can start building on."
Since its closed beta launch in 2023, Bluesky has been steadily introducing new features like custom feeds and server hosting capabilities, with more updates in the pipeline. The service became available to everyone in February, with its user base surpassing 5 million.
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