Reddit's AI-Powered Harassment Filter Gives Moderators a Helping Hand

Redditors who moderate communities are now getting some much-needed assistance from Reddit itself. The platform has just rolled out an artificial intelligence-powered tool to help detect and filter out online harassment on its site.

This new feature, which uses data collected from moderator actions and enforcement teams, is designed to aid moderators in identifying potential harassing or objectionable content within their communities. When the AI flagging system spots a problematic post or comment, it will alert the mods so they can review it and take action if needed.

According to Reddit’s own words, the Large Language Model (LLM) behind this tool was trained on over 340 words of data from moderator actions and internal enforcement tools. This training allows the AI to accurately spot harassment even in cases where content might not directly break Reddit’s rules.

The new feature is part of a broader effort by Reddit to upgrade its moderation tools and support its moderators. In recent months, they’ve introduced several updates aimed at making users’ lives easier and addressing online safety concerns.

To turn on the harassment filter, mods will need to follow these steps: desktop users should go to their community’s About page, click ‘Mod Tools’, and then toggle the Harassment Filter switch. iOS and Android users can find it in their Mod Tools section too – just look for the Safety settings.

Redditors have two options when it comes to filtering out harassment: they can either opt for Low, which is less thorough but more accurate; or High, which sweeps up a lot of content but might catch some false positives. Reddit advises using High in communities with loads of harassing posts.

While automatic removals from administrators will still be happening as usual, the AI-powered filter gives moderators another tool to keep an eye on their community’s behavior and address any issues before they blow out of control.