There’s no question that content moderation protects your online community from harmful content that could destroy your brand. On the surface, moderation keeps your web content clean and high quality, but can this solution safeguard submitted information from getting released without your or your community members’ authorization?

Data security is an aspect of online moderation that some businesses overlook. They focus more on making sure that the submissions stay in line with their image and guidelines without asking if the handling involves strict security measures. While quality control is indeed important, content security should be equally held with high regard.

What types of content should be protected from data leaks?

Any user generated content (UGC) sent to your website should be protected, but certain types of content are in greater danger of unauthorized release. These are:

• Original creations

  Contact details of users, as well as the images they are in, are considered personal information. You could risk your online community to identity theft or spamming if you implement weak content moderation practices.

• Personal information

  Contact details of users, as well as the images they are in, are considered personal information. You could risk your online community to identity theft or spamming if you implement weak content moderation practices.

• Private conversations

  Conversations in member-only forums are considered private. If any piece of information that users privately divulged to the moderators or fellow members leaks, it could reflect poorly on your web community.

As data leak could originate from users, you should let your online community know about what should and should not go to your website. Be clear with your guidelines, and offer privacy settings that members could tweak on their own. Moreover, there should be corresponding sanctions to every violation to prevent members from committing offenses.

As for your moderators, they should be knowledgeable about online publishing ethics and your brand’s identity. Educate them about the types of content you don t want floating around your pages, and train them to be vigilant in spotting potential threats. When they see users who could jeopardize their security or privacy with the content they post, your moderators should be there to remind users about the consequences of their actions.

Most importantly, your content moderation team should be trustworthy and responsible. Your site visitors are not the only ones capable of committing data breach—your moderators could intentionally or unintentionally spill information to unaffiliated entities or competitors.

This is why it is best to entrust online moderation to a capable company. Employing the services of an outsourcing company assures that the content moderation is done in a monitored environment with qualified moderators using secured networks and equipment.

Essentially, online moderation can guarantee data security if you entrust the process to qualified moderators with strict and ethical monitoring practices.