Moderating for a friend of mine: Content moderation as affective reproduction in Chinese live-streaming

Abstract

Bridging the theory of affective labor and reproductive labor, this paper proposes “affective reproduction” as a critical framework to analyze the unpaid work of volunteer content moderation. Findings from this study problematize the one-sided focus on streamers in the extant literature on platform labor vis-à-vis live-streaming. It contends that fan moderators help streamers reproduce the live-streaming atmosphere as friendly, pleasant, and relevant, facilitating Internet celebrities’ money-making. This study contributes to studies of digital labor in two ways: 1) it expands the labor and work perspective to the study of content moderation and discloses the indirect value-generating nature of this work; 2) the designation of moderator in Chinese live-streaming platforms reveals a new form of work organization that exploits digital intimacy, transforming platform users into non-professional, secondary cultural workers. The proposed framework is applicable to various forms of participatory media, in which users are encouraged to manage and regulate their peers.