Reddit moderators of the r/AskHistorians community report that in April, the platform's AI moderation tools automatically removed dozens of comments and posts dating back 10 years, including valuable historical content linked to Rare Historical Photos. Dr. Sarah Gilbert, one of the mods, said the deletions were irreversible and particularly damaging since users view the subreddit as an educational archive. The mods believe Reddit's AI designated the image-sharing website as spam, causing any post using its content to be flagged.
Reddit claims its AI moderation has increased enforcement actions on hate and violent content by more than 200 percent and reduced exposure to potentially harmful content by 40 percent. The platform says it uses large language models to detect coordinated fake behavior. However, these erroneous mass removals may be inflating metrics intended to demonstrate AI moderation effectiveness.
Experts argue that relying primarily on AI tools to preserve content authenticity misses what makes social media worthwhile: the people behind it. The article suggests that while AI enables faster, higher-volume enforcement, more automated actions don't necessarily translate to better outcomes for communities.