The Ethics of Content Moderation Research Paper

Assignment Formatting Checklist ☑ Check the following before submitting your assignment. Failure to conform to these requirements will incur a cumulative –0.5% penalty for each formatting error. Typesetting ❏ Common, professional, legible font, 11- or 12-point size (e.g. Times New Roman or Arial) ❏ Double-spaced lines ❏ First-line indents Layout ❏ Letter size (8.5” * 11”) ❏ 1-inch margins ❏ No title page Technical ❏ Filetype: doc, docx, odt, rtf, or pdf ❏ Banner number in the page header and student name not included anywhere in the paper ❏ Word count on the last page and within 10% of the assigned length (1000 ± 100 words) Citations ❏ Citations provided in-line for all references ❏ Works cited section includes complete citations for all in-line references ❏ Chosen citation style (e.g. APA, Chicago) used correctly Why these requirements? These requirements aren’t here just to trip you up! They serve a few important purposes: ● Facilitating fair grading​. Making all assignments conform to a standard format and removing student names reduces the possibility of unconscious bias. ● Academic integrity​. The citation requirements are essential to academic integrity and to teach good practices of crediting others’ work. PHIL 2490 & CSCI 3101 Assignment Formatting Checklist ● Technical writing skills​. Whatever you end up doing professionally, you will encounter instructions similar to this one that require you to conform to a particular style, length, and format. PHIL 2490 & CSCI 3101 Assignment Formatting Checklist Essay 2 – Applying Ethical Theories Pick ​one​ of the following topics, and write an argumentative essay of ​approximately​ ​1,000 words​ (excluding the bibliography) in response to the question posed for your chosen topic. Further instructions follow; please ensure you review them before beginning to write. Topic A – Disguising Advertising as Search Results Google Search is increasingly making advertisements resemble regular results. Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, claims that the changes are to improve the user experience, and to make advertisements, which support the Google Search service, as useful to users as possible. But advertising experts are suspicious that these moves are mainly motivated by Alphabet’s business interests, and have raised concerns that users may be confused by proposed changes to the Google Search user interface. You can read a recent article about this controversy here: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/24/google-will-iterate-the-design-that-made-it-harder-to-tell-ads-f rom-search-results.html Would it be unethical if Google Search made advertisements look exactly the same as its search results? Why or why not? Topic B – The Ethics of Content Moderation A large amount of content uploaded to Facebook each day contains misinformation, sexual content, and disturbing imagery. Because its automated filters are insufficient to catch every case, Facebook Inc. relies on large numbers of human staff to review content that is flagged for violations on their platforms. Without these moderators, users of the Facebook platform (and other services owned by Facebook Inc., such as Instagram) would be exposed to a great deal more problematic content. But, because of the nature of this content, many of these moderators have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from their work. Recently, Facebook agreed to a $42 million (US) settlement, awarding each moderator who is diagnosed with similar conditions a minimum of $1,000 (US) in compensation and expanded therapeutic treatment options. You can read an article about this settlement and its background here: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/12/21255870/facebook-content-moderator-settlement-scola-p tsd-mental-health Is Facebook’s content moderation strategy unethical? Why or why not? Further Instructions To do well on this assignment, you must: ● Pick an answer to the question.​ Your essay should clearly indicate the position you will be arguing for in a thesis statement in the introduction. ● Justify your answer with ​ethical​ arguments. ​Your essay must present a case for why the answer you picked is correct, rather than simply asserting that it is. Your answer must take a stand on whether something is unethical or not; essays that only argue for why something is or isn’t legal or prudential will not receive full marks. ● Apply ​at least ​one ethical theory.​ Your arguments must use at least one ethical theory to defend your answer to the question. You must briefly explain the theory you are using, how it applies to the case at hand, and why it supports your answer to the question. ● Consider ​at least​ one objection or alternative perspective.​ In the course of presenting arguments for your answer to the question, you are expected to consider alternative answers or potential criticisms of your answer. Present and evaluate the arguments that someone defending that alternative perspective might make. Explain why those arguments don’t work, or why your position is better. Try to respond to the best possible arguments for the alternative you consider. ● Spend the majority of your essay developing and evaluating arguments.​ Do not spend too many words summarizing the facts of the case. Briefly introduce the topic, tell the reader what you are going to argue for, then present your arguments and respond to objections. ● Write in clear, formal English, and present your arguments in an organized way. While the majority of your grade will be determined by your arguments and responses to objections, some of your grade is based on the quality of your writing. Spelling, grammar, and style errors will lower your grade, as will unclear writing or a structure that is difficult to follow. ● Follow the formatting requirements.​ To facilitate marking and aid in mitigating unconscious bias, please ensure your assignment follows the specifications in the Assignment Formatting Checklist on Brightspace. Do not include your name anywhere on the assignment—type your Banner number in the header instead. Submit your assignment electronically on Brightspace as a PDF, Word, OpenDocument Text, or Rich Text file. Each failure to follow formatting requirements will incur a ​–0.5% penalty​ to your assignment grade. ● Do not plagiarize or engage in any other form of academic dishonesty.​ Unless you have made special arrangements, your work will be analysed by Urkund to check for instances of plagiarism. Review the Examples of Plagiarism handout on Brightspace. Double-check your citations and bibliography to ensure that you do not accidentally plagiarise any content. Additionally, collaboration on this assignment is not allowed; this assignment assesses your individual work. It is your responsibility as a student to review and ensure that you understand the ​university’s policies on plagiarism and academic integrity​. Don’t jeopardize your grade or your degree! Your essay will be graded using the ​Argumentative Essays Rubric​, which is posted on Brightspace. Please familiarize yourself with its criteria before you start to write. Writing Support The instructor and TAs are available to consult by email or audio/video call. We are happy to offer feedback on ideas and outlines. If time permits, we may be able to offer feedback on drafts. The University Writing Centre has moved its services online. Visit their website for information on how they can help you develop your academic writing skills: https://www.dal.ca/campus_life/academic-support/writing-and-study-skills.html Other support services are listed in Section B of the syllabus. …