The Colors of Content Moderation: A Portfolio of Brazilian Resistances to Coloniality on Instagram

ABSTRACT

This article explores resistance to coloniality embedded on Instagram’s automated content moderation. With the growing use of artificial intelligence on Instagram’s content moderation, the company is increasingly criticized for the discriminatory effects of its algorithmic systems, which disproportionately punishes content produced by marginalized groups—such as racial and gender minorities—while leaving untouched similar content produced by more privileged groups. Additionally, when confronted with criticism, the company tends to respond with arguments that diminish users’ experiences of discrimination while reclaiming the monopoly over any statement about algorithms on the grounds they have the technical information about them. This article aims to articulate the concepts of “automated coloniality,” “datacentric epistemology” and “parrhesia” to discuss the colonial features of Instagram’s automated content moderation. Building on such framework, a portfolio of Brazilian resistance practices are used to illustrate some of the instances of coloniality within the social network content moderation and how Brazilian users respond to them, affirming their criticism as legitimate.

KEYWORDS:

• Brazil
• algorithmic discrimination
• automated coloniality
• parrhesia
• resistance

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 By “automated content moderation,” I refer to moderation techniques that employ algorithmic models to identify content that violates Instagram’s internal policies, and subsequently remove them or restrict the respective profile’s visibility. Even though they are not strictly synonymous, the expressions “algorithmic” and “automated” will be used interchangeably on this article, for the sake of readability.

2 All names on this article are fictional to protect the users’ real names.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carolina Bouchardet

Carolina Bouchardet is a PhD candidate at the Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and an attorney at Eizirik Advogados. She graduated with B.A. in law and M.A. in constitutional law and theory of the state from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Her teaching and research interests are mainly in law and technology, particularly studies on content moderation, online violence against women, data protection and social movements and resistance on the internet.