Online control: 'We online censors deserve compassion'

It's rare for someone to talk about their work as an online censor. You are now 25 years old and have been doing the job since 2020. What tasks has your employer have you do?

It mainly involves examining images and texts. The content can be divided into three main areas: political security, violence and offensive content. Gambling, drugs and illegal advertising must also be checked.

How heavy is the workload?

It is actually okay. Strictly speaking, the AI takes over the first review round. The first reviewers then have to review more than 10,000 pieces of content per day, while we quality reviewers have to review at least 40,000 to 50,000 pieces of content per day, as this is relatively easier – after all, the content has already been reviewed once. Initially, I was told to review 60,000 to 70,000 pieces of content a day, but I couldn't do it.

Which area has the highest moderation priority?

That would clearly be political security.

What is the review standard for political content? For example, which content is permitted and which is not?

The standard is actually the same as for national news reports. What is not allowed to be reported, we cannot approve either. A very clear example is that content concerning high-ranking political officials and their families or addressing the darker chapters in the Communist Party's history must always be deleted. Another example is June 4th. Every year, when people spread information about the incident, we must always review and delete such content. Especially right before June 4th, we even have to work overtime to handle all the work.

Have you been told why certain topics are politically sensitive? Did you have any questions or were you interested in more details?

The company does not want us to know too many details. In the first filter stage, a lot of content is already filtered out by AI using keywords; this content is not even visible to us as reviewers. I don't ask questions myself as I already know my way around. If I don't know something, I use VPNs and search on foreign websites. Sometimes, I find new keywords during manual checks and report them to my supervisor. These words are then added to the AI filters so that future content can be checked and blocked automatically.

You also receive training on specific topics. How did the training on the labor camps in Xinjiang go?

We were shown a documentary and that was it. There were no further explanations or discussions. The company's goal was not to educate us about the truth, but to prepare us to delete content. As reviewers, we are just cogs in the system. We are only supposed to recognize that a topic is sensitive and delete the content – how we feel about it or what we think is irrelevant.

What other content was covered in the training courses?

There was training about cults, such as " Eastern Lightning " and the like. The training consists of a PPT presentation which we were not allowed to photograph and which the company collected immediately afterwards. This is typical of all our training sessions - they seem very secretive. It seems as if the company has to give us certain information so that we can do our job better, but at the same time, they are afraid that we know too much. They would prefer us to follow the instructions and forget everything immediately. That's quite contradictory.

You seem to be very open about your work as a moderator. Don't you think that your work could also be seen as reprehensible?

You can put it that way, it doesn't bother me. I don't bear a great moral burden about these things. You shouldn't carry too much of a moral burden in life. For me, my survival is the top priority. Nothing is more important than my own survival. If I didn't have this job, I wouldn't be able to live. And if I couldn't survive, who would care?

Could you tell us how much you earn as a moderator?

In the beginning, it was 4,300 yuan; after taxes, I had about 4,000 yuan in my pocket. After just over a year, the salary increased to 6,800 yuan gross, leaving around 6,000 yuan after deducting social security and housing funds.

Does this long-term work as a reviewer, which constantly exposes you to so-called "negative" information, have an impact on your psychological or mental health?

No, not at all. If you're talking about political depression, not that either. To be honest, the only pressure I feel at work comes from the fear of making mistakes. I'm terrified that I might miss something that needs to be censored. I haven't noticed any negative emotions from my colleagues either. Some colleagues even love Mao Zedong more than anything. For some, it is as if they are helping to stabilize the country and prevent social unrest. From this perspective, why should we be politically depressed or anxious?

Is there anything that makes you feel guilty?

Absolutely. For example, censoring content about COVID-19, the floods in Zhengzhou or Jiang Xue's essay "Ten Days in Chang'an" made me feel guilty. But these were obvious cases. If I hadn't deleted them, someone else would have. They were too obvious to let them slide.

How did your feelings of guilt manifest?

They made me want to quit. But then the people around me comforted me by saying, "If you hadn't done it, someone else would have." Some of my friends also asked me what I would do if I quit this job. Everyone knows that survival is paramount, while morals and ethics are secondary. I have an ambivalent relationship with this work: on the one hand, it's a familiar job that ensures my survival, but on the other, it's … painful. It was tough because I went through some of the same things I had to censor content about.

Do you think you deserve sympathy? If you were to look at your work from an outsider's perspective, what would you say about censors?

I would say that we certainly deserve compassion. I think there's a phrase that sums it up well: Responsibility should be proportional to power and position. Ordinary people should not have to carry the burden of too much social responsibility. It's hard enough for ordinary people to survive without having to shoulder society's expectations.

The original interview with online reviewer Chen Lijia (pseudonym) was conducted by the diaspora magazine Mang Mang and first published in fall 2024. We have translated authorized excerpts from the original text for you.