ABSTRACT
News organizations, users, algorithms, and even artificial intelligence in the form of machine learning all play a role in managing user commentary. This chapter begins by outlining organizational perspectives on commenting and the relevant commenting policies put in place by news organizations to manage user comments. It reviews empirical analysis to offer insights into which organizational commenting policies encourage more engagement (volume of comments) and better quality comments (i.e., more civil/less hostile). In a critical reflection that follows, the chapter sheds light on the moderators’ gatekeeping role and how this implemented power structure can affect the flow and content of user discussions. Given the widespread attention and varied implementation of comment moderation strategies, a substantial portion of this chapter is devoted to the ways in which both organizations and users, themselves, moderate these discussion spaces. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of the current state of automation in comment moderation (i.e., artificial intelligence/machine learning).
