Bluesky Empowers Users with Customizable Moderation Filters

Bluesky Empowers Users with Customizable Content Moderation

Bluesky, the social media platform, is taking a significant step towards user-controlled content moderation. The company recently announced the open-sourcing of its moderation tool, Ozone, which will enable developers to create additional moderation services that users can choose to apply to their feeds.

Expanding Moderation Options

While Bluesky already has its own dedicated content moderation team and a set of rules for users to follow, the new system will allow users to tailor their moderation preferences further. By subscribing to additional moderation services, users can have certain types of posts labeled, annotated, or hidden according to their preferences.

Customizing Your Online Experience

Imagine you have a phobia of snakes. With Ozone, a developer could create a moderation service that specifically identifies and blocks images of snakes. By subscribing to this service, you can effectively remove snake photos from your feeds. If any snake images slip through, you can report them, allowing the moderation service creator to review and refine their filters.

“You can build all sorts of different moderation services and customize your experience to create the kind of community you want. Beyond that, you’re going to be able to mix and match these in different ways, and we’ve put out the open-source tooling for that.”

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, in an upcoming episode of Decoder by The Zero Byte, emphasizes the flexibility and customization options that Ozone brings to the table.

Layering Moderation and Third-Party Servers

The custom filters will work in conjunction with Bluesky’s existing moderation, adding an extra layer of control for users. However, third-party servers will have the option to disable Bluesky’s moderation entirely, giving them even more autonomy.

Collaborative Moderation and Automation

Creating a moderation tool on Bluesky is akin to creating block lists, with the key difference being that the moderation service is not tied to an individual account. This allows multiple people to manage the service, review reported content, and set custom labels. Developers can even create automated labeling services if desired.

Pioneering User-Driven Moderation

“This is something that I think is really going to move forward the state of the industry. And as far as I know, nobody’s done exactly what we were doing before, which is have this piece of moderation be something that any third party, any user, or anyone who wants to come in — even if they’re non-technical — can start building on.”

Graber believes that Bluesky’s approach to user-driven moderation is groundbreaking and will set a new standard in the industry.

Continued Growth and Development

Since its closed beta launch in 2023, Bluesky has been steadily introducing new features, such as custom feeds and the ability to host servers. The platform opened up to the public in February, quickly amassing over 5 million users. With the introduction of Ozone and more features on the horizon, Bluesky continues to innovate and empower its users.