The environment of social media comments is in the process of a major evolution due to the two major tasks that the platforms have to solve: how to encourage the users to leave more comments and how to prevent the spread of toxic content. New advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning have provided the basis of better comment moderation systems to shape the future of conversations online.

Top tech giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google have spent a lot of resources in developing tools that leverage AI to moderate comments in real-time. These systems are not only able to identify overt hate speech and harassment but also less overt forms of toxicity including sarcasm, microaggressions and dog whistles. These AI moderators are able to analyze the context and the sentiment of a particular comment with the help of NLP and sentiment analysis and thus make better decisions about which content needs to be highlighted or removed.

These and other advanced moderation tools have already been introduced and have produced positive outcomes. Documents provided by the internal communication of some of the largest social media companies reveal that the use of AI in moderating the content has been effective in reducing the amount of toxic comments with some companies noting a reduction of up to 50% of the abusive content reported by users. This also enhances the general user experience while at the same time promoting the protection of vulnerable groups that are usually victims of online harassment.

But as with any development, AI moderation has its drawbacks, too. Some critics have claimed that algorithms may not be able to grasp cultural and contextual factors and thus end up either censoring too much or silencing certain groups. There are also concerns of accountability since the decision making processes of the AI algorithms are not easily comprehensible and therefore cannot be easily questioned by the users.

In order to mitigate these problems some of the platforms are turning to the so called ‘hybrid’ models where AI will be supplemented by human moderation. This model enables the use of automated systems and their efficiency and scalability while at the same time adding the human factor where more complex or grey decisions are made. Also, measures are being taken to enhance the user’s experience by explaining to the users why their comments have been flagged or removed.

There is also a new trend in the social media comments where community management is being used in moderating comments. Bigger social media networks are now looking into similar models of moderation after online forums such as Reddit and Wikipedia have been using volunteer moderators for a long time. These systems allow the users to take part in the determination of the overall mood and the topics of discussion within the online communities thus creating an ownership mentality.

Community moderation can be as basic as the use of upvotes and downvotes, or as complex as giving certain users more moderation abilities. Some of the platforms are now testing the reputation systems that encourage positive contributions and discourage negative actions thus promoting positive interactions.

Community moderation has been found to be quite successful in a number of studies, which has proven that user-generated moderation is an excellent way of preventing the spread of incivility and fake news. However, there are still issues with the adoption of these systems on larger scale platforms and the potential risk of them to amplify the current inequalities of the communities.

As the social media platforms are constantly changing the approach to the moderation of comments there is a slowly emerging understanding of the need for more context-aware solutions. Some firms are testing the water with what is known as ‘nudge’, a form of intervention that aims at steering people into better commenting behavior. These can include challenges that challenge users to think twice before they post something that may be deemed as rude or mean or offer real time feedback on the language used by the user.

Social media comments in the future may also experience the enhancement of moderation settings whereby the users can control the kind of discussions they want to be part of. This could include features that allow users to select certain topics or even tones of conversations that they want to be excluded from or the creation of specific areas of discussion with certain guidelines.

Thus, further development of these technologies and approaches will considerably alter the landscape of online discussions. It will therefore be a daunting task for the platforms, policies and users to ensure that they encourage and allow forums for free discussions as well as ensuring that there are proper manners and etiquette being used while interacting online. The constant development of the comment moderation systems is one of the most important directions in the larger process of establishing the better and more effective digital public sphere.