‘The Cleaners – Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck’

Any video or image can be uploaded to the web through social media. This does not, however, mean that all such material will remain there. Tens of thousands of “cleaners” work behind the scenes to ensure that only approved content is accessible to users. The role of cleaners, hired by companies such as Facebook or Google, is to search for and delete inappropriate content. Although they work undercover, the filmmakers have managed to contact some of the “content moderators” working in the Filipino capital of Manila. Their experiences include the appalling ordeal of finding child pornography or recordings of Islamic murders. The gradual devastation of the moderators’ psyche is not the only problem within this profession. Another flaw is that content is often deemed inappropriate if it does not suit the governments of individual countries or if, for instance, it tells about the reality of wartime conflicts in an alarming manner. At which point does the effort to prevent the spread of evil become dangerous censorship?