Eva and Franco Mattes Expose Content Moderation on Darknet
Eva and Franco Mattes' work 'Dark Content' (2015) investigates the hidden labor of content moderators who manually filter explicit or controversial material from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The project consists of video interviews with anonymous moderators, whose faces are replaced by computer-generated avatars and voices altered. The moderators reveal that removal criteria vary widely, often dictated by local laws, copyright rules, or political agendas. The videos are hosted exclusively on the darknet, accessible only via the Tor browser at a .onion address, emphasizing the hidden nature of this digital censorship. The work was exhibited at Essex Flowers gallery in New York and is documented on the artists' website.
Key facts
- Eva and Franco Mattes created 'Dark Content' in 2015.
- The work features anonymous interviews with content moderators.
- Moderators' faces are replaced by computer-generated avatars.
- Voices are altered to preserve anonymity.
- Removal criteria include local laws, copyright, and political motives.
- The videos are only accessible on the darknet via Tor browser.
- The darknet address is 5cqzpj5d6ljxqsj7.onion.
- The work was exhibited at Essex Flowers, New York.
Entities
Artists
- Eva Mattes
- Franco Mattes
Institutions
- Essex Flowers
- Artribune
- YouTube
- Tor
Locations
- New York
- United States