Create middle ground between promoting content and banning it
Untested
Inference
Dispel Rumors
This is a moderation tool that allows mods to keep disputed content online while not making it easily visible or promoting it.
The content would be blurred out or covered by a warning that this content contains sensitive or otherwise objectionable material (and the nature of why it's being covered), with a button to reveal that material.
This could include misinformation from important political figures, or images that are explicit but newsworthy or culturally important.
This could also allows regional distinctions so that something labeled by one region as sensitive could be automatically shown in other regions (e.g. proscribed depictions of religious figures, symbols that are legally considered hate speech in some countries, &c.).
The reveal buttons can also be disabled for users who are not yet adults.
A grade of Inference is for proposed interventions that lack research of their own, but that could work by way of analogous studies, expert opinions, or first principles.
While this is, technically, the lowest evidentiary grade that we can afford an intervention while still including it in the library, this is not meant to discourage. On the contrary! This grade is very much an invitation to explore and experiment with it further.
Do you think this intervention could have more benefits, unacknowledged drawbacks, or other inaccuracies that we've neglected to mention here?
We always welcome more evidence and rigorous research to back up, debunk, or augment what we know.
If you want to be a part of that effort, we'd love to have your help!
Email us
