When AI decides what you say online

In a digital world where everyone has a voice, are comment filtering algorithms helping to protect communities, or are they unintentionally stifling users' voices?

AI is scanning and deleting comments on social media

When people leave a comment on a YouTube video , a Facebook post, or an online article, they have no idea whether it will reach anyone. It’s not because it’s misspelled, nor because it’s illegal, it’s simply blocked by an automated filtering algorithm.

Tech platforms now employ comment filtering systems to remove hate speech, pornography, violence, and divisive speech. The goal is to “keep communities safe,” but are these tools so sanitizing that they become insensitive?

When AI becomes the gatekeeper of speech

Unlike the early days of the internet, where “raw” comments were allowed to appear freely, most major platforms now delegate the responsibility of content filtering to artificial intelligence. Thanks to machine learning, systems can scan millions of lines of text every day, evaluating language, tone, and even “context” to decide whether to keep or delete.

However, this system is not always accurate.

Ms. Ngoc Vy (HCMC) shared: "My comment about a product was hidden for some unknown reason. No swearing, no spam, just a comment that disappeared after a few seconds."

Many pieces of content are removed simply because they use sensitive words in a completely normal context. Phrases like "poverty", "hunger", "policy", or "system" are sometimes misunderstood as negative if the machine cannot "read" the spirit of the sentence.

Filter or eliminate criticism?

According to a warning from the German organization AlgorithmWatch, automated censorship systems can unintentionally eliminate dissenting voices, especially from disadvantaged or minority groups, because these systems learn from the behavior of the majority, which is not diverse enough in terms of culture and viewpoints.

In Vietnam, strict control of content by social media platforms is becoming more common, especially with highly interactive news sites. Comments on current and social issues are often restricted from display, or must be "pre-approved", causing many people to ask: Is there still freedom of speech in cyberspace?

The worrying thing is that users rarely know why comments are hidden or deleted. There are no notifications, no transparent feedback mechanisms. Everything happens silently, and in a world run by algorithms, silence can be the most subtle form of censorship.

Keep the internet clean but don't whitewash the conversation

Clean cyberspace should not mean sterile. Society is a place where different opinions are expressed, constructive, critical, and debated. We need algorithms to filter out toxic speech, but we also need to protect the right to differ, the right to question, the right to raise inconveniences.

When every comment has to be "moderated," we have to ask: Is technology protecting the community or filtering what the community is allowed to hear?

Technology cannot replace humans in making valuable decisions. And in the age of AI, transparency and the right to feedback are the fairest "algorithms" for the entire system.

Technology should help people speak up, not decide what to say for them.

SINGLE INTELLIGENCE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khi-ai-quyet-dinh-ban-duoc-noi-gi-tren-mang-20250701231035288.htm