Facebook unveils new group admin tools - Moderation can be automated now

Facebook's New Admin Tools
(Image credit: Facebook)

Moderating groups and content on Facebook is not an easy job. Allowing for freedom of expression even while keeping the exchanges civil and legal is tough. And to ease the situation, Facebook has launched a clutch of new admin tools that include improved AI-powered comment moderation processes, 'Conflict Alerts' to help spot contentious exchanges, and a new dashboard named Admin Home that will centralise admin tools, settings and features in one place.

Facebook said that many of the new tools are based on user feedback. It added that there are more than 70 million active admins and moderators running Facebook groups, and these tools should come in handy for them.

How moderation can be automated?

The new tweak sets much store on updated Admin Home set up, which is basically the one-stop destination for all admin tools, settings and features that admins can tailor to their needs. This will also provide admins a quick window to see what needs attention across posts, members and reported comments.

Facebook has also added comment moderation to Admin Assist, allowing admins to set up criteria to automatically moderate both posts and comments.

Admins can now restrict people who don’t qualify to participate based on the options and rules of the group. They can keep out spam and maintain positive discussions and resolve conflicts within the group through the automated rules.

Conflict Alerts will draw the attention of admins 

On the subject of moderation alert, Facebook has come up with the Conflict Alerts tool that uses AI to tell admins when there may be contentious or unhealthy conversations in the group.

"In situations where it may be helpful to slow down a conversation, admins can temporarily limit how often specific group members can comment, and control how often comments can be made on certain posts that admins select," Facebook said.

Facebook Admins Assist Tool

(Image credit: Facebook)

The social media platform is also introducing a new member summary feature so that admins can see a consolidated summary of each group member’s activity in the group, such as the number of times they have posted and commented, or when they’ve had posts removed or been muted in the group. 

It has also added a new appeal process for group admins, covering content that they or other admins have posted, or that they have approved from members. These appeals will be reviewed by Facebook to make sure the right decision was made.

"To help make it easier to share and enforce rules in Groups, admins and moderators can now tag group rules in comments and posts. Members can also tag specific group rules when they report posts and comments to admins, helping make community moderation simpler," Facebook said.

With these new admin tools, Facebook hopes tro tackle the problem of bad behaviour on the platform more seriously.

The new tools will be made available to groups on Facebook in the coming weeks.

Balakumar K
Senior Editor

Over three decades as a journalist covering current affairs, politics, sports and now technology. Former Editor of News Today, writer of humour columns across publications and a hardcore cricket and cinema enthusiast. He writes about technology trends and suggest movies and shows to watch on OTT platforms.