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We Had to Remove This Post
For readers of Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny or Ling Ma's Severance: a tight, propulsive, chilling novel by a rising international star about a group of young colleagues working as social media content monitors—reviewers of violent or illegal videos for an unnamed megacorporation—who convince themselves they’re in control . . . until the violence strikes closer to home.
Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job as a content moderator for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed. It’s grueling work. Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens, evaluating them with the platform’s ever-changing terms of service while a supervisor sits behind them, timing and scoring their assessments. Yet Kayleigh finds a group of friends, even a new love—and, somehow, the job starts to feel okay.
But when her colleagues begin to break down; when Sigrid, her new girlfriend, grows increasingly distant and fragile; when her friends start espousing the very conspiracy theories they’re meant to be evaluating; Kayleigh begins to wonder if the job may be too much for them. She’s still totally fine, though—or is she?
Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a job as a content moderator for a social media platform whose name she isn’t allowed to mention. Her job: reviewing offensive videos and pictures, rants and conspiracy theories, and deciding which need to be removed. It’s grueling work. Kayleigh and her colleagues spend all day watching horrors and hate on their screens, evaluating them with the platform’s ever-changing terms of service while a supervisor sits behind them, timing and scoring their assessments. Yet Kayleigh finds a group of friends, even a new love—and, somehow, the job starts to feel okay.
But when her colleagues begin to break down; when Sigrid, her new girlfriend, grows increasingly distant and fragile; when her friends start espousing the very conspiracy theories they’re meant to be evaluating; Kayleigh begins to wonder if the job may be too much for them. She’s still totally fine, though—or is she?
136 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2021
485 people are currently reading
29.3k people want to read
About the author
Hanna Bervoets
32books485followersHanna Bervoets (1984, Amsterdam) is one of the most acclaimed Dutch authors of her generation. After earning her Bachelors degree in Cultural Studies and a Masters in Journalism & Research she published nine novels, several screenplays, plays and a short story collection. She also writes essays and reviews on media, tech, popular culture and (queer) representation.
Bervoets received numerous nominations and awards for her work. In 2017, she was granted the prestigious Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire body of works. Her novels are being translated in many languages and were adapted for film and television. Excerpts and short stories were published on international platforms such as Five Dials and The Guardian.
During the spring of 2018 Bervoets was a resident at Writers Omi at Ledig House, New York, where she worked on her novel 'Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick': an adventure story on chronic illness. 'Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick' became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2019.
In 2021 her novella 'The Things we saw' was published for Dutch Book Week in a first print run of 650,000 copies. Picador published it in May 2022 in the UK, HarperCollins in the US as 'We had to remove this Post'.
In 2022 Bervoets won the J.M.A Biesheuvel award for her latest short story collection, 'A modern desire'.
Hanna Bervoets works and lives in Amsterdam, with her girlfriend and two guinea pigs
Bervoets received numerous nominations and awards for her work. In 2017, she was granted the prestigious Frans Kellendonk Prize for her entire body of works. Her novels are being translated in many languages and were adapted for film and television. Excerpts and short stories were published on international platforms such as Five Dials and The Guardian.
During the spring of 2018 Bervoets was a resident at Writers Omi at Ledig House, New York, where she worked on her novel 'Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick': an adventure story on chronic illness. 'Welcome to the Kingdom of the Sick' became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2019.
In 2021 her novella 'The Things we saw' was published for Dutch Book Week in a first print run of 650,000 copies. Picador published it in May 2022 in the UK, HarperCollins in the US as 'We had to remove this Post'.
In 2022 Bervoets won the J.M.A Biesheuvel award for her latest short story collection, 'A modern desire'.
Hanna Bervoets works and lives in Amsterdam, with her girlfriend and two guinea pigs
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,510 reviews
June 7, 2022
if I had a nickel for every time I read something booktok has described as completely fucked up and disturbing only for it to barely make an impact on me I would be the richest woman in the world
July 12, 2022
Not the shocking horror I was anticipating, but that's probably more of a comment on my own unnervingly high threshold for depravity and less a fault of the book's
July 11, 2022
problematic language used for quite literally no reason. gave incel vibes, not disturbing just boring as fuck. this is a wannabe black mirror episode, the ending of the book felt like the author just stopped writing like she literally just stopped typing and walked away from her laptop.
June 30, 2022
We had to remove this post? More like we had to remove the premise so we could just watch a toxic relationship while the premise waves at us in the background.
November 15, 2022
this is what everyone was so freaked out about?
sheesh.
i don't wanna call the collective internet a bunch of cowards, but...this was on Easy Mode. this was no level of freaky at all.
anyway.
i think it's interesting to consider the lives of people who have to moderate social media content, but this book didn't have much going on beyond that. it couldn't even commit fully to its thesis - that this type of life would make normal people evil - so it felt not only pointless, but pretty boring.
not the stuff of nightmares i thought i was signing up for.
bottom line: i mean, like, ok!
---------------
tbr review
i'm a masochist, what can i say
sheesh.
i don't wanna call the collective internet a bunch of cowards, but...this was on Easy Mode. this was no level of freaky at all.
anyway.
i think it's interesting to consider the lives of people who have to moderate social media content, but this book didn't have much going on beyond that. it couldn't even commit fully to its thesis - that this type of life would make normal people evil - so it felt not only pointless, but pretty boring.
not the stuff of nightmares i thought i was signing up for.
bottom line: i mean, like, ok!
---------------
tbr review
i'm a masochist, what can i say
May 29, 2021
Moraal van het verhaal: Holocaustontkenners vaker op hun bek slaan
August 24, 2022
This could’ve been a dark and psychologically incisive cautionary tale about desensitization as a result of this disturbing line of work. It could’ve been been an indictment of the fact that good mental healthcare is only accessible to those who can afford it. It could’ve been an exploration of how constantly viewing material that is ban-worthy (stuff so dark I can’t even type here, conspiracy theories etc.) impacts your relationship with yourself and others� but nah. To suggest this book even scratches the surface of these things would suggest there was a surface to scratch to begin with. This book gently pats at these ideas with de-clawed kitty paws and instead spends so much time on a toxic romance that feels flat and goes nowhere. Also, what was that ending?? Did the author spill coffee on the last 20 pages and mail a damaged manuscript to the publisher?
July 24, 2022
Ha, finally: The book that is everything wanted, but failed to be. The protagonist of Bervoets' seventh novel is Kayleigh, a former content moderator for Facebook (the customer her direct employer Hexa provides services for is never named, but there is a remark in the text that makes it pretty clear). The text we read is a letter she sends to a certain Mr. Stitic, a guy who files a class action lawsuit on behalf of other former Hexa employees regarding the working conditions and their mental health issues. Stitic has been pushing Kayleigh to join the lawsuit, but she tells him that she will reveal her story to him only in exchange for him to stop contacting her - so the letter is not a report to a lawyer; rather, it reads like a revelation to a therapist, or even a confession to a priest.
Bervoets has done a lot of research on the psychological strain put on social media content moderators, and the short novel will put some images in your head that are hard to endure. The guidelines Kayleigh and her colleagues have to follow are often absurd, and the pressure to perform while constantly facing disturbing and violent content seems unbearable for almost anyone. Mental health issues, drugs and alcohol become normal for Kayleigh and her friends at Hexa, and when it turns out that some agree with anti-scientific or (at least in Germany) anti-constitutional ideas ventilated on FB, the question arises whether these people have always been like that, or whether they are affected by their work.
On social media, we curate a version of ourselves - but who is the content moderator in real life? Coping mechanisms - some rather sad, like indulging in provocative jokes and thus blurring the lines between mocking offensive content and being offensive - start to fail, the concept of reality becomes muddy. Kayleigh enters a relationship with her co-worker Sigrid, and Bervoets cleverly uses it to question the relation between (self)-image and reality, the importance of frame and perspective, the collapse of private life and work for the whole group of moderators.
Now this is a smart book about the digital age. I hope it will garner some serious attention.
Bervoets has done a lot of research on the psychological strain put on social media content moderators, and the short novel will put some images in your head that are hard to endure. The guidelines Kayleigh and her colleagues have to follow are often absurd, and the pressure to perform while constantly facing disturbing and violent content seems unbearable for almost anyone. Mental health issues, drugs and alcohol become normal for Kayleigh and her friends at Hexa, and when it turns out that some agree with anti-scientific or (at least in Germany) anti-constitutional ideas ventilated on FB, the question arises whether these people have always been like that, or whether they are affected by their work.
On social media, we curate a version of ourselves - but who is the content moderator in real life? Coping mechanisms - some rather sad, like indulging in provocative jokes and thus blurring the lines between mocking offensive content and being offensive - start to fail, the concept of reality becomes muddy. Kayleigh enters a relationship with her co-worker Sigrid, and Bervoets cleverly uses it to question the relation between (self)-image and reality, the importance of frame and perspective, the collapse of private life and work for the whole group of moderators.
Now this is a smart book about the digital age. I hope it will garner some serious attention.
January 22, 2023
❶ ❶ ❶ ❶ ❶ ❶
We Had to Remove This Post is one of those books that leaves me thinking…well, not much beyond: this is a thing that exists
It doesn’t happen all that much but now and again I read books that spectacularly fail to elicit any discernible feeling or emotion in me (beyond ‘meh�). This is ironic given that We Had to Remove This Post is exactly the kind of wannabe-conversation-starter book that tackles topical & important issues. Maybe someone who knows very little about the gruelling realities of being a social media content moderator may find We Had to Remove This Post to be insightful in a way that I was sadly unable to. Having already come across articles and actual interviews about this topic, well, I was expecting something a bit more evocative and nuanced. But this novella was a fairly banal affair. Sure, the characters have arguments, or they are confronted with the worst that humanity has to offer (videos/images of extremely graphic nature), but, I just could not bring myself to care or even really believe in them, let alone what they were arguing about.
I found the choice to have Kayleigh’s narration be a ‘confession� of sorts to this guy, quite frankly gimmicky. Kayleigh gives us an idea of the kind of toxic work environment and emotionally draining workload, but she does so in broad strokes, so I never got a sense of who she was, let alone the kind of people her colleagues were. She becomes girlfriend with one of her colleagues, and their relationship is supposedly a central aspect of the narrative, but I found their dynamic and that final twisty reveal extremely derivative.
Eventually, some of the content moderators begin endorsing the kind of material they should be taking down, and the narrative shows how easily misinformation is spread on social media, and how long exposure to certain spheres of the internet may eventually lead someone to 'convert' to that line of thinking/way of life.
I couldn’t tell you much else about this book, given how little of an impression it made on me. This is very much a book that could have easily been an essay or an op-ed. The subject matters—social media, conspiracy theories, being a content moderator—take the centre stage, at the expense of a compelling storyline and rounded characters. It wasn't quite a I'm Making A Point type of book but it wasn't that far off either...very much book club material.
The writing was okay, nothing to write home about. In the latter half of the book were some attempts at the kind of atmosphere you would find in a psychological thriller and they did not stick the landing.
Anyway, YMMV so if you are interested in this book I recommend you read more positive reviews.
We Had to Remove This Post is one of those books that leaves me thinking…well, not much beyond: this is a thing that exists
It doesn’t happen all that much but now and again I read books that spectacularly fail to elicit any discernible feeling or emotion in me (beyond ‘meh�). This is ironic given that We Had to Remove This Post is exactly the kind of wannabe-conversation-starter book that tackles topical & important issues. Maybe someone who knows very little about the gruelling realities of being a social media content moderator may find We Had to Remove This Post to be insightful in a way that I was sadly unable to. Having already come across articles and actual interviews about this topic, well, I was expecting something a bit more evocative and nuanced. But this novella was a fairly banal affair. Sure, the characters have arguments, or they are confronted with the worst that humanity has to offer (videos/images of extremely graphic nature), but, I just could not bring myself to care or even really believe in them, let alone what they were arguing about.
I found the choice to have Kayleigh’s narration be a ‘confession� of sorts to this guy, quite frankly gimmicky. Kayleigh gives us an idea of the kind of toxic work environment and emotionally draining workload, but she does so in broad strokes, so I never got a sense of who she was, let alone the kind of people her colleagues were. She becomes girlfriend with one of her colleagues, and their relationship is supposedly a central aspect of the narrative, but I found their dynamic and that final twisty reveal extremely derivative.
Eventually, some of the content moderators begin endorsing the kind of material they should be taking down, and the narrative shows how easily misinformation is spread on social media, and how long exposure to certain spheres of the internet may eventually lead someone to 'convert' to that line of thinking/way of life.
I couldn’t tell you much else about this book, given how little of an impression it made on me. This is very much a book that could have easily been an essay or an op-ed. The subject matters—social media, conspiracy theories, being a content moderator—take the centre stage, at the expense of a compelling storyline and rounded characters. It wasn't quite a I'm Making A Point type of book but it wasn't that far off either...very much book club material.
The writing was okay, nothing to write home about. In the latter half of the book were some attempts at the kind of atmosphere you would find in a psychological thriller and they did not stick the landing.
Anyway, YMMV so if you are interested in this book I recommend you read more positive reviews.
October 16, 2022
De corrumperende werking van blootstelling aan de beerput van het internet
Een constant bombardement (500 tickets per dag) aan geweld, misbruik, wreedheid tegen dieren, seks, haat en zelfbeschadiging, voor 20% meer loon dan een horecabaan.
Dat is wat Kayleigh accepteert en waarover ze ons verteld in Wat wij zagen. Het is een verhaal vervlochten met een obsessie met een collega op haar werk als anonieme subcontractor van een subcontractor van een Facebook of Google.
Byzantijnse richtlijnen en interpretaties, die met de week wijzigen, beginnen als snel door te sijpelen in de dagelijkse moraliteit van de moderators.
Chiazaad en bladgroente als lichamelijk middel tegen wat de geest moet ondergaan, geniepige seks, alchohol en wiet: het is niet fraai wat het hoofdpersonage allemaal meemaakt. Ze blijft hierbij wel opvallend passief. Maar wanneer ook nog flat earthers, als nog redelijk gemoedelijke conspiracy theorists, hun intrede op de werkvloer doen, gaat het helemaal los.
Hanna Bervoets vertelt vlot en sleept je mee, en slechts gaandeweg begint de twijfel over de motieven en normaliteit van het hoofdpersonage je soms wat te bekruipen.
Een novelle van onze tijd, over de onzichtbare kanten aan ons internetbestaan, en de maar al te echte gevolgen voor mensen in de echte wereld.
Een constant bombardement (500 tickets per dag) aan geweld, misbruik, wreedheid tegen dieren, seks, haat en zelfbeschadiging, voor 20% meer loon dan een horecabaan.
Dat is wat Kayleigh accepteert en waarover ze ons verteld in Wat wij zagen. Het is een verhaal vervlochten met een obsessie met een collega op haar werk als anonieme subcontractor van een subcontractor van een Facebook of Google.
Byzantijnse richtlijnen en interpretaties, die met de week wijzigen, beginnen als snel door te sijpelen in de dagelijkse moraliteit van de moderators.
Chiazaad en bladgroente als lichamelijk middel tegen wat de geest moet ondergaan, geniepige seks, alchohol en wiet: het is niet fraai wat het hoofdpersonage allemaal meemaakt. Ze blijft hierbij wel opvallend passief. Maar wanneer ook nog flat earthers, als nog redelijk gemoedelijke conspiracy theorists, hun intrede op de werkvloer doen, gaat het helemaal los.
Hanna Bervoets vertelt vlot en sleept je mee, en slechts gaandeweg begint de twijfel over de motieven en normaliteit van het hoofdpersonage je soms wat te bekruipen.
Een novelle van onze tijd, over de onzichtbare kanten aan ons internetbestaan, en de maar al te echte gevolgen voor mensen in de echte wereld.
March 25, 2023
This Dutch novella (134 pages) follows a young woman who works as a social media content monitor. With a group of young colleagues she reviews violent, crazy, bizarre or illegal videos for a giant social media corporation.
Nothing we learn about is terribly shocking or surprising to us. For example, they allow videos showing self-abuse (apparently a lot) but no blood. They allow conspiracy theories as long as they don’t violate certain country’s laws. So a Holocaust denial schtick is okay for country A but not for country B.
The focus of the story is not on the content of what they do all day long but on the psychological toll it takes on them. They spend their days watching hate and horror. There’s a lot of alcohol, pot smoking and sex (in storage closets) going on during the (timed) breaks at work despite the fact that they are closely monitored -remotely. Theri monitor tells them things like ‘Yes, you were correct to pull this one, but you shouldn’t have allowed that one.�
Kayleigh is the main character. As the story unfolds, it becomes a love story between Kayleigh and her female partner as much as a story about the content they deal with and its psychological toll. That psychological toll creates a rocky road in the relationship between the two women. Some of the bumps in that relationship relate to how some of their own colleagues start espousing the very crap they wrestle with all day.
A multi-cultural group often goes to a bar after work � men and women, a Black, a Jew and two gays. And what do they talk about? Mostly they tell jokes about Blacks, Jews and gays. (Kayleigh refers to herself as ‘a dyke.�) Is this a way of getting the poison they have been ingesting all day out of their systems?
The writing was straightforward, nothing special, and I have to say the book just didn’t work for me. The ending is one of the ‘flattest� of any book I can think of. For what it’s worth, the GR rating of 3.0 is exceptionally low.
The author (b. 1984) has written a half dozen novels. This is her first novel that has been translated into English.
Photo of the author from nrc.nl
[Revised 3/25/23]
Nothing we learn about is terribly shocking or surprising to us. For example, they allow videos showing self-abuse (apparently a lot) but no blood. They allow conspiracy theories as long as they don’t violate certain country’s laws. So a Holocaust denial schtick is okay for country A but not for country B.
The focus of the story is not on the content of what they do all day long but on the psychological toll it takes on them. They spend their days watching hate and horror. There’s a lot of alcohol, pot smoking and sex (in storage closets) going on during the (timed) breaks at work despite the fact that they are closely monitored -remotely. Theri monitor tells them things like ‘Yes, you were correct to pull this one, but you shouldn’t have allowed that one.�
Kayleigh is the main character. As the story unfolds, it becomes a love story between Kayleigh and her female partner as much as a story about the content they deal with and its psychological toll. That psychological toll creates a rocky road in the relationship between the two women. Some of the bumps in that relationship relate to how some of their own colleagues start espousing the very crap they wrestle with all day.
A multi-cultural group often goes to a bar after work � men and women, a Black, a Jew and two gays. And what do they talk about? Mostly they tell jokes about Blacks, Jews and gays. (Kayleigh refers to herself as ‘a dyke.�) Is this a way of getting the poison they have been ingesting all day out of their systems?
The writing was straightforward, nothing special, and I have to say the book just didn’t work for me. The ending is one of the ‘flattest� of any book I can think of. For what it’s worth, the GR rating of 3.0 is exceptionally low.
The author (b. 1984) has written a half dozen novels. This is her first novel that has been translated into English.
Photo of the author from nrc.nl
[Revised 3/25/23]
August 19, 2022
A strange and traumatized dyke works as a content moderator at a social media company and becomes increasingly numb to the explicit violence and exploitation in her workplace and surroundings, as detailed through a letter to a lawyer reaching out to her to try to include her testimony in a lawsuit against the company. Short and succinct, I thought this was well done and a horrifying and fascinating examination of the dynamics of human social relations, the internet, and delusion. I understand why some people wouldn’t enjoy this or would think it was gratuitous, but I felt that the narrative was realistic, empathetic, and all-consuming, the novel itself feeling like a spiral down the rabbit-hole of a treacherous digital age of increasingly visible gruesome human acts.
June 10, 2022
This novella's premise was intriguing, and I was curious about what would happen. But to be honest, I never found out what was going on. I lost interest in the story and got tired of the characters. The ending was out of nowhere, and I just couldn't understand what on earth was happening. I liked the premise, and I was super sad for real people that have to view social media videos and remove them, but this book didn't work well.
January 23, 2024
”So what kind of things did you see?�
Remember the TV show Dirty Jobs? Where Mike Rowe takes us to the world of weird, wonderful and sometimes downright distasteful jobs? Well, perhaps being a “moderator� for a well know social media platform should be added to that list. As while the grime is not physical, it’s undoubtedly far more impactful.
The role of the moderator is to make a snap judgment on what image is or isn’t deemed to be suitable to be posted online. The line of what’s acceptable often being very blurry, with the company’s guidelines constantly changing. And you can well imagine that the posts are anything but warm and fuzzy.
The company in question � Hexa � is one based in an office tower ”in a business park with its own bus stop, we were among equals, brethren in a secret society.� No pen or paper is allowed on the moderator’s desks, nor mobile phones. Paranoia runs rife, to ensure that security be so tight that everything remained on the shop floor, and not be shared with outsiders.
Kayleigh is our narrator, and perhaps an unreliable one. With her own set of emotional and financial problems, she’s probably not the most suitable candidate for this type of job (but then, who is?).
The work is intense. Image after image after image. All being timed, and each moderator needing to reach a strike rate of five hundred tickets per day. From the moment the moderators log on, every click it monitored, every moment away from the desk noted. Like a battery cage for humans. The clock is always ticking.
”A timer that started counting down the moment we left our desks, even to stretch our legs.�
The bond between the workers � all in their twenties � are formed fast and tight. Going to the local sports bar after work each evening to unwind. To let rip and say all things that they keep close to their chests about what they cannot say during the work day. Outsiders have a ”lurid fascination� for their work, which they cannot speak about.
The longer they work there, the worse their emotional health and psyche suffers. Insomnia. Lousy relationships. Drugs. Addictions. As one of the other moderators says, on the verge of a nervous breakdown before he leaves his job ”I just don’t feel like a person anymore.� What’s seen cannot be unseen.
Trigger warnings! All kinds. You name it. Violent and disturbing images. Substance abuse. Porn. Racism and all round general unpleasantness.
This is a very dark and unsettling novella, originally published in Dutch. It's short and snappy and intelligently written. It will have you wondering about what really goes on behind the scenes of these behemoth corporations, who are churning out content 24/7. Perhaps “spewing� out would be a better description, as there is no way that all of the moderators in the world would be able to capture all the content not fit for viewing. Which really says a lot about modern society.
Perhaps the most frightening thing of all is the Author’s own postscript at the end of the novel:
"This novella is a work of fiction. The characters portrayed are drawn from my imaginations. However, any resemblance to reality is not accidental.�
Followed by two pages listing reference books discussing this very topic. Chilling.
I invite you to Neale's blog � where there is an utterly fascinating podcast chat with the Author:
Remember the TV show Dirty Jobs? Where Mike Rowe takes us to the world of weird, wonderful and sometimes downright distasteful jobs? Well, perhaps being a “moderator� for a well know social media platform should be added to that list. As while the grime is not physical, it’s undoubtedly far more impactful.
The role of the moderator is to make a snap judgment on what image is or isn’t deemed to be suitable to be posted online. The line of what’s acceptable often being very blurry, with the company’s guidelines constantly changing. And you can well imagine that the posts are anything but warm and fuzzy.
The company in question � Hexa � is one based in an office tower ”in a business park with its own bus stop, we were among equals, brethren in a secret society.� No pen or paper is allowed on the moderator’s desks, nor mobile phones. Paranoia runs rife, to ensure that security be so tight that everything remained on the shop floor, and not be shared with outsiders.
Kayleigh is our narrator, and perhaps an unreliable one. With her own set of emotional and financial problems, she’s probably not the most suitable candidate for this type of job (but then, who is?).
The work is intense. Image after image after image. All being timed, and each moderator needing to reach a strike rate of five hundred tickets per day. From the moment the moderators log on, every click it monitored, every moment away from the desk noted. Like a battery cage for humans. The clock is always ticking.
”A timer that started counting down the moment we left our desks, even to stretch our legs.�
The bond between the workers � all in their twenties � are formed fast and tight. Going to the local sports bar after work each evening to unwind. To let rip and say all things that they keep close to their chests about what they cannot say during the work day. Outsiders have a ”lurid fascination� for their work, which they cannot speak about.
The longer they work there, the worse their emotional health and psyche suffers. Insomnia. Lousy relationships. Drugs. Addictions. As one of the other moderators says, on the verge of a nervous breakdown before he leaves his job ”I just don’t feel like a person anymore.� What’s seen cannot be unseen.
Trigger warnings! All kinds. You name it. Violent and disturbing images. Substance abuse. Porn. Racism and all round general unpleasantness.
This is a very dark and unsettling novella, originally published in Dutch. It's short and snappy and intelligently written. It will have you wondering about what really goes on behind the scenes of these behemoth corporations, who are churning out content 24/7. Perhaps “spewing� out would be a better description, as there is no way that all of the moderators in the world would be able to capture all the content not fit for viewing. Which really says a lot about modern society.
Perhaps the most frightening thing of all is the Author’s own postscript at the end of the novel:
"This novella is a work of fiction. The characters portrayed are drawn from my imaginations. However, any resemblance to reality is not accidental.�
Followed by two pages listing reference books discussing this very topic. Chilling.
I invite you to Neale's blog � where there is an utterly fascinating podcast chat with the Author:
May 22, 2022
while horrifying to read (trigger warnings for everything, basically), is incredibly fascinating, sharp, and provocative. inspired by true stories of social media content moderators, this book follows kayleigh, a 20-something woman who takes a job as a content moderator at a big social media platform, and how this impacts both her and her colleagues� lives.
this book largely examines the trauma that comes with the job of reviewing and removing offensive and graphic content online, but also explores the widespread desensitisation among the general populace. as internet users, we are all regularly exposed to some kind of horror or hate online, often to such an extent that we barely bat an eye anymore when it shows up on our feeds. the dangers of this content being normalised is perfectly exemplified by the characters in the book, who become increasingly desensitised to the horrors they’re seeing on their screens everyday, some even becoming indoctrinated by extremist views and conspiracy theories.
has honestly sent me spiralling with the number of questions it’s left me with. how do we navigate the essentially lawless minefield that is the internet, a realm where normal, real-life laws can’t be applied so easily? who should have the power to decide what does and what doesn’t belong online, and therefore who and what can determine our worldview? what happens if this power is placed into the wrong hands? what are the limits to such graphic and offensive content online? is it ethical to place the burden of reviewing such graphic and violent content onto human beings, especially due to the significant impacts it can have on their mental health but if we hand over content moderation to algorithms and AI, what happens if something slips through the cracks? why do people record and post such awful content anyway? is humanity just rotten to its core?
the book doesn’t attempt to answer any of these questions, (tbh i don’t think any book ever could), but it sure as hell leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew about the internet, social media, and humanity.
rating: 3.5
thank you Picador Books for the proof copy! is out in the UK on 26th may
this book largely examines the trauma that comes with the job of reviewing and removing offensive and graphic content online, but also explores the widespread desensitisation among the general populace. as internet users, we are all regularly exposed to some kind of horror or hate online, often to such an extent that we barely bat an eye anymore when it shows up on our feeds. the dangers of this content being normalised is perfectly exemplified by the characters in the book, who become increasingly desensitised to the horrors they’re seeing on their screens everyday, some even becoming indoctrinated by extremist views and conspiracy theories.
has honestly sent me spiralling with the number of questions it’s left me with. how do we navigate the essentially lawless minefield that is the internet, a realm where normal, real-life laws can’t be applied so easily? who should have the power to decide what does and what doesn’t belong online, and therefore who and what can determine our worldview? what happens if this power is placed into the wrong hands? what are the limits to such graphic and offensive content online? is it ethical to place the burden of reviewing such graphic and violent content onto human beings, especially due to the significant impacts it can have on their mental health but if we hand over content moderation to algorithms and AI, what happens if something slips through the cracks? why do people record and post such awful content anyway? is humanity just rotten to its core?
the book doesn’t attempt to answer any of these questions, (tbh i don’t think any book ever could), but it sure as hell leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew about the internet, social media, and humanity.
rating: 3.5
thank you Picador Books for the proof copy! is out in the UK on 26th may
October 5, 2022
another day, another booktok disappointment
it was a brilliant horror setting that could have given me sleepless nights but the execution was bad and so i will be sleeping just fine.
thank you for nothing booktok!
it was a brilliant horror setting that could have given me sleepless nights but the execution was bad and so i will be sleeping just fine.
thank you for nothing booktok!
November 9, 2024
This book incisively probes the question of how exposure to violent internet content changes a person. Broke and with few options, Kayleigh takes a job as a content moderator for a social media platform. It’s her job to assess which flagged posts violate guidelines and should be removed. She and her coworkers are subjected to an onslaught of the most vile content on the internet amid pressure-cooker working conditions, and it starts to change them. Some begin to believe conspiracy theories, others make crass, offensive jokes. Sigrid, Kayleigh’s girlfriend, becomes sick with worry over a video of a teenager self-harming. And while Kayleigh doesn’t realize it, this work has begun to change her too�
I really enjoyed this translated novella. The story and Kayleigh’s narrative voice are so compelling. I’m unsure of how I felt about the ending, which is not what I expected, but the more I sit with it, the more I’m coming to appreciate it. I recommend this one, but only if you’re prepared for some dark and disturbing content.
I really enjoyed this translated novella. The story and Kayleigh’s narrative voice are so compelling. I’m unsure of how I felt about the ending, which is not what I expected, but the more I sit with it, the more I’m coming to appreciate it. I recommend this one, but only if you’re prepared for some dark and disturbing content.
May 31, 2021
Op de voorkant van het Boekenweekgeschenk van 2021 staat een partij kantoorgebouwen. Gehuld in avondlicht, aan de kleuren te zien, maar verder loopt er geen levende ziel. Het is alvast een hint naar een belangrijk thema van het geschenk: menselijkheid.
In het geschenk begint Hanna Bervoets met een typische ramptoeristische vraag: ‘En wat zag je dan allemaal?� De vraag wordt door een advocaat aan Kayleigh gesteld, een jonge vrouw die als content moderator bij een niet nader te noemen mediabedrijf werkt. Ook al is het verhaal van Wat wij zagen al een jaar geleden afgemaakt, het is nog steeds actueel en je kunt er duidelijk verwijzingen naar onderzoeken naar bijvoorbeeld Facebook in lezen.
Het thema van de Boekenweek is dit jaar 'Tweestrijd'. Een onderwerp dat bij uitstek bij Hanna Bervoets lijkt te passen, gezien haar eerder uitgegeven romans als Alles wat er was, Ivanov en Welkom in het rijk der zieken. Maatschappelijke vraagstukken en kwesties als loyaliteit, kruisingsexperimenten en chronisch ziek zijn schuwt de auteur niet. Ook in het Boekenweekgeschenk staat stevige inhoud die goed uitgewerkt wordt, wat best knap is voor een novelle.
Terug naar Kayleigh. In het begin van Wat wij zagen is het duidelijk dat ze niet meer bij het bedrijf werkt en dat enkele oud-collega’s een rechtszaak hebben aangespannen vanwege ‘duizenden choquerende beelden die op ons afgevuurd werden die de draden in onze hoofden vrijwel meteen deden doorbranden�. Maar Kayleigh betwist dat, want ze stelt dat ze wist waar ze aan begon. Ze vertelt over waarom ze op de functie solliciteerde (wie doet dat in hemelsnaam?) en de werkomstandigheden (vijfhonderd tickets per dag afhandelen, twee keer per dag een korte pauze). Bervoets creëert een jonge vrouw die oprecht overkomt, omdat ze Kayleigh een achtergrond geeft die verklaart hoe ze de eerste werkweken doorkwam. Ook trapt ze gelukkig niet in de valkuil van een hoofdpersoon die het na een paar weken niet meer ziet zitten en depressief van het werk wegblijft, dat zou in dit geval het verhaal saaier maken.
Daarmee komen we bij een ander relevant onderwerp: menselijke interactie en de vorming van je referentiekader. Want hoe hield Kayleigh het vol? Ze beschrijft intense (vriendschappelijke) relaties op de werkvloer, waaronder haar eigen relatie met Sigrid. Aan de andere kant blijven de scènes met collega’s in de bar na het werk misschien wat vlak, je komt niet veel over de anderen te weten. Toch is dat vermoedelijk niet alleen aan Bervoets te wijten, want is dit niet inherent aan het type werk? Doordat de moderators op internet al zoveel filmpjes en berichten van mensen in hetzelfde taalgebied zien, hebben ze misschien niet eens zoveel behoefte aan verdieping van de ziel van de personen om zich heen.
De regels voor het tonen van video’s kent Kayleigh een tijd na haar werk nog steeds: ‘een vrouw die van haar scootmobiel wordt gereden, mag dat? Niet als je bloed ziet. Wel als de situatie overduidelijk komisch is. Niet als er sadisme in het spel is.� En zo gaat het nog even door. De zinnen laten zien dat vele beelden multi-interpretabel zijn en ook dat de moderators alle regels tegen elkaar moeten afwegen voordat ze een filmpje verwijderen of laten staan. Ik mag hopen dat een moderator die met zijn werk is gestopt, dit continue analyseren op een gegeven moment los kan laten. Voor velen is Kayleighs verhaal de werkelijkheid. ‘Kent u de flat earth theory? (�) De aanhangers zijn met velen, het is een miljoenenbeweging. Ze verspreiden hun ideeën via fora en chatgroepen en hebben inmiddels ruim vijfenvijftig miljoen filmpjes op hun naam staan.�
Achterin geeft Bervoets tips om verder te lezen, waarbij opvalt dat vooral de laatste drie jaren onderzoeken naar Facebook en soortgelijke platformen zijn verschenen. Er lijkt meer aandacht te komen voor de mensen die zo’n bedrijf draaiende houden. Ik zie Wat wij zagen als een maatschappelijk geëngageerd verhaal dat potentieel langer beklijft dan eender welk ander Boekenweekgeschenk. Enerzijds is het een goede inkomer in Bervoets� oeuvre, anderzijds een mooie aanvulling naast haar boeken in de kast.
In het geschenk begint Hanna Bervoets met een typische ramptoeristische vraag: ‘En wat zag je dan allemaal?� De vraag wordt door een advocaat aan Kayleigh gesteld, een jonge vrouw die als content moderator bij een niet nader te noemen mediabedrijf werkt. Ook al is het verhaal van Wat wij zagen al een jaar geleden afgemaakt, het is nog steeds actueel en je kunt er duidelijk verwijzingen naar onderzoeken naar bijvoorbeeld Facebook in lezen.
Het thema van de Boekenweek is dit jaar 'Tweestrijd'. Een onderwerp dat bij uitstek bij Hanna Bervoets lijkt te passen, gezien haar eerder uitgegeven romans als Alles wat er was, Ivanov en Welkom in het rijk der zieken. Maatschappelijke vraagstukken en kwesties als loyaliteit, kruisingsexperimenten en chronisch ziek zijn schuwt de auteur niet. Ook in het Boekenweekgeschenk staat stevige inhoud die goed uitgewerkt wordt, wat best knap is voor een novelle.
Terug naar Kayleigh. In het begin van Wat wij zagen is het duidelijk dat ze niet meer bij het bedrijf werkt en dat enkele oud-collega’s een rechtszaak hebben aangespannen vanwege ‘duizenden choquerende beelden die op ons afgevuurd werden die de draden in onze hoofden vrijwel meteen deden doorbranden�. Maar Kayleigh betwist dat, want ze stelt dat ze wist waar ze aan begon. Ze vertelt over waarom ze op de functie solliciteerde (wie doet dat in hemelsnaam?) en de werkomstandigheden (vijfhonderd tickets per dag afhandelen, twee keer per dag een korte pauze). Bervoets creëert een jonge vrouw die oprecht overkomt, omdat ze Kayleigh een achtergrond geeft die verklaart hoe ze de eerste werkweken doorkwam. Ook trapt ze gelukkig niet in de valkuil van een hoofdpersoon die het na een paar weken niet meer ziet zitten en depressief van het werk wegblijft, dat zou in dit geval het verhaal saaier maken.
Daarmee komen we bij een ander relevant onderwerp: menselijke interactie en de vorming van je referentiekader. Want hoe hield Kayleigh het vol? Ze beschrijft intense (vriendschappelijke) relaties op de werkvloer, waaronder haar eigen relatie met Sigrid. Aan de andere kant blijven de scènes met collega’s in de bar na het werk misschien wat vlak, je komt niet veel over de anderen te weten. Toch is dat vermoedelijk niet alleen aan Bervoets te wijten, want is dit niet inherent aan het type werk? Doordat de moderators op internet al zoveel filmpjes en berichten van mensen in hetzelfde taalgebied zien, hebben ze misschien niet eens zoveel behoefte aan verdieping van de ziel van de personen om zich heen.
De regels voor het tonen van video’s kent Kayleigh een tijd na haar werk nog steeds: ‘een vrouw die van haar scootmobiel wordt gereden, mag dat? Niet als je bloed ziet. Wel als de situatie overduidelijk komisch is. Niet als er sadisme in het spel is.� En zo gaat het nog even door. De zinnen laten zien dat vele beelden multi-interpretabel zijn en ook dat de moderators alle regels tegen elkaar moeten afwegen voordat ze een filmpje verwijderen of laten staan. Ik mag hopen dat een moderator die met zijn werk is gestopt, dit continue analyseren op een gegeven moment los kan laten. Voor velen is Kayleighs verhaal de werkelijkheid. ‘Kent u de flat earth theory? (�) De aanhangers zijn met velen, het is een miljoenenbeweging. Ze verspreiden hun ideeën via fora en chatgroepen en hebben inmiddels ruim vijfenvijftig miljoen filmpjes op hun naam staan.�
Achterin geeft Bervoets tips om verder te lezen, waarbij opvalt dat vooral de laatste drie jaren onderzoeken naar Facebook en soortgelijke platformen zijn verschenen. Er lijkt meer aandacht te komen voor de mensen die zo’n bedrijf draaiende houden. Ik zie Wat wij zagen als een maatschappelijk geëngageerd verhaal dat potentieel langer beklijft dan eender welk ander Boekenweekgeschenk. Enerzijds is het een goede inkomer in Bervoets� oeuvre, anderzijds een mooie aanvulling naast haar boeken in de kast.
October 5, 2023
incredible concept!! ...incredibly underwhelming execution. *sigh*
April 21, 2022
ARC received in exchange for an honest review
Trigger warnings for literally everything in this one.
In this novella we follow Kayleigh as she writes a letter to a lawyer who is prosecuting her former employer. Kayleigh used to work as a content moderator for a popular social media site, and as a result was exposed to endless extremely graphic images and videos. Content that causes any number of physical and mental health problems. But Kayleigh's fine. Right?
This was a clever and chilling look into how warped our perceptions of the world become due to overexposure from graphic digital content. We see these characters start to become desensitised by what they're watching, and even become indoctrinated to the extreme message and conspiracy theories. There's a sense of overwhelming dispair and desperation that seems to seep through every page that I found really fascinating to read as each individual deals with this trauma differently - from rage to denial.
However, I do wish this had been longer. I found Kayleigh's story arc to be less hard hitting than it was probably intended to be purely because you don't really see this gradual, creeping build up of the destruction that takes them unawares. Instead it jumps forward in time quite quickly, implying rather than letting the reader see it for themselves. I also found that although Kayleigh is a complex, nuanced character, we don't get the same treatment from her coworkers. If the story had been longer we probably would have been given better back stories for them, and seeing their trauma would have had a stronger emotional impact.
Facinating examination on a very real and prevelant topic, but I was left desperately wanting more. Also, extreme trigger warnings. For such a short read I found this impossible to read in one go due to the graphic content.
Trigger warnings for literally everything in this one.
In this novella we follow Kayleigh as she writes a letter to a lawyer who is prosecuting her former employer. Kayleigh used to work as a content moderator for a popular social media site, and as a result was exposed to endless extremely graphic images and videos. Content that causes any number of physical and mental health problems. But Kayleigh's fine. Right?
This was a clever and chilling look into how warped our perceptions of the world become due to overexposure from graphic digital content. We see these characters start to become desensitised by what they're watching, and even become indoctrinated to the extreme message and conspiracy theories. There's a sense of overwhelming dispair and desperation that seems to seep through every page that I found really fascinating to read as each individual deals with this trauma differently - from rage to denial.
However, I do wish this had been longer. I found Kayleigh's story arc to be less hard hitting than it was probably intended to be purely because you don't really see this gradual, creeping build up of the destruction that takes them unawares. Instead it jumps forward in time quite quickly, implying rather than letting the reader see it for themselves. I also found that although Kayleigh is a complex, nuanced character, we don't get the same treatment from her coworkers. If the story had been longer we probably would have been given better back stories for them, and seeing their trauma would have had a stronger emotional impact.
Facinating examination on a very real and prevelant topic, but I was left desperately wanting more. Also, extreme trigger warnings. For such a short read I found this impossible to read in one go due to the graphic content.
March 19, 2023
It was the first audiobook that I’ve ever finished so maybe I just need to learn how to listen to audiobooks? I constantly get distracted. But maybe it’s the book�
The story follows Kayleigh, a woman in her twenties working as a content moderator for a social media platform. At first it’s just a job but the longer she is there the more she realizes the toll the job is taking.
I really liked the premise of this book. I’m not big on social media so I don’t have much to do with removed posts, but come to think of it, you can imagine what kind of stuff do these people have to watch every day. From the blurb it sounded interesting and important.
Unfortunately the book itself didn’t have much to add in the topic so the blurb would have been enough. The whole story was rather predictable and, some gore details aside, not very shocking.
I was hoping for it to hit me harder I guess.
The story follows Kayleigh, a woman in her twenties working as a content moderator for a social media platform. At first it’s just a job but the longer she is there the more she realizes the toll the job is taking.
I really liked the premise of this book. I’m not big on social media so I don’t have much to do with removed posts, but come to think of it, you can imagine what kind of stuff do these people have to watch every day. From the blurb it sounded interesting and important.
Unfortunately the book itself didn’t have much to add in the topic so the blurb would have been enough. The whole story was rather predictable and, some gore details aside, not very shocking.
I was hoping for it to hit me harder I guess.
May 21, 2021
De schrijfstijl was boeiend, maar jeetje wat een naar verhaal. Ik werd er af en toe gewoon onpasselijk van, ik weet niet of ik er nou blij van moet worden om dit aan klanten mee te geven. En ik ben heus niet preuts, ik vind het prima als er seks in een boek zit - maar in een novelle van 93 pagina's verwacht ik het niet zo vaak voorbij te zien komen zoals nu het geval was. De hoofdpersoon vond ik ook echt niet leuk - eigenlijk vond ik geen van de personages leuk. Ik denk dat het wel een boeiend onderwerp is, mits het op de juiste manier wordt uitgevoerd. Voor mij was dit niet per se de juiste manier. Ik ben geen fan.
September 23, 2022
Kayleigh arbeitet bei der Firma Hexa, wo sie täglich verstörende Bilder und Videos sichten und nach den entsprechenden Richtlinien ausrangieren muss. Es geht um Tierquälerei, Hassreden, Selbstverletzungen und Verschwörungstheorien - schockierende Szenen, die auch dem Leser mitgeteilt werden. Parallel greift das Buch auf gerade einmal 110 Seiten, die Liebesbeziehung von Kayleigh und ihrer Arbeitskollegin Sigrid auf und nimmt in meinen Augen einen interessanten Sog mit einem passenden Ende auf. Allmählich sickert die digitale Gewalt vom Bildschirm in den Alltag der Protagonisten, bis die Frage aufploppt, was noch richtig und was falsch ist.
Der Titel suggerierte für mich persönlich zuerst eine andere Erwartung an die Geschichte. Trotzdem gefiel mir der kurzweilige Roman, den ich empfehlen kann.
Der Titel suggerierte für mich persönlich zuerst eine andere Erwartung an die Geschichte. Trotzdem gefiel mir der kurzweilige Roman, den ich empfehlen kann.
May 30, 2021
Wat een gruwelijk boekenweekgeschenk. Ik heb nog steeds een kater.
March 6, 2023
i think there’s more naunce to this novella than most interpret. it’s essentially a human story, not a shock-gore story of big tech - the entire point is to humanise stories that seem dissociated from real life because they occur on a screen. i do think it was too short a form for what it was trying to do, however.
Read
January 20, 2023Please research this book and consider if it is right for you.
August 4, 2022
I thought the blurb was better than the book.
I know I’m being harsh but I feel I’ve been mislead.
I was all eager and pumped up to read this after checking out the blurb. So that lies where my disappointment started I think.
Kayleigh needed a job.
Her new job was to monitor the content on social media.
I’ve often wondered how and who does this job and with the research the author put in, I have become aware of how it might be done.
There is no doubt that there were and are some horrific things on social media and thank goodness for the ones we don’t see, this got me thinking about the awful things we DO see.
There’s a romance in here.
That tended to take over halfway through the book I thought, only so much you can say about her job.
Social media for me has brought good things and if we think deep, some bad and shady stuff.
It’s also taken over our lives without thinking about it and this got me thinking�..
Some peoples lives live around the Internet. And it’s brought less interaction and “real� friendships and socialising for some.
Then for those housebound, it can be a window to your world.
Makes you think.
3.75
I know I’m being harsh but I feel I’ve been mislead.
I was all eager and pumped up to read this after checking out the blurb. So that lies where my disappointment started I think.
Kayleigh needed a job.
Her new job was to monitor the content on social media.
I’ve often wondered how and who does this job and with the research the author put in, I have become aware of how it might be done.
There is no doubt that there were and are some horrific things on social media and thank goodness for the ones we don’t see, this got me thinking about the awful things we DO see.
There’s a romance in here.
That tended to take over halfway through the book I thought, only so much you can say about her job.
Social media for me has brought good things and if we think deep, some bad and shady stuff.
It’s also taken over our lives without thinking about it and this got me thinking�..
Some peoples lives live around the Internet. And it’s brought less interaction and “real� friendships and socialising for some.
Then for those housebound, it can be a window to your world.
Makes you think.
3.75
November 6, 2024
My new book to tell everyone about and feel cool bc I read it first. Jk, I'm not that asshole. But if I was, this would forsure be the book.
If I didn't have such an investment in content moderation there's a chance I wouldn't have enjoyed this as much (doubtful). dedicates an entire chapter to giving a true account of what it's like to content mod and the toll it can take on your entire being.
If I didn't have such an investment in content moderation there's a chance I wouldn't have enjoyed this as much (doubtful). dedicates an entire chapter to giving a true account of what it's like to content mod and the toll it can take on your entire being.
June 12, 2021
Ik hoop dat Wat wij zagen voor veel mensen een uitnodiging zal zijn om kennis te maken met het eigenzinnige en indrukwekkende oeuvre van Hanna Bervoets.
April 14, 2023
This is a wack trip into the life of a social media content moderator. Mega wack. Highly recommend but be aware, it's highly disturbing.
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