Why Content Moderation Must Account for Disability

If you are on social media and do not live under a rock, you may have seen artificial intelligence-generated videos of famous theoretical physicist and wheelchair user Stephen Hawking being horribly brutalized in myriad violent acts. As you casually scroll past these distasteful videos of Hawking, including ones of him being tossed around in a WWE ring, you may pause briefly on a reel wherein United States President Donald Trump claims to have found a cause for autism. Further doomscrolling still might push you into the manosphere, where men promote physical strength to subjugate and podcasters liberally use the adjective “retarded” as a symbol of a “great cultural victory.”

Digital media platforms are increasingly spurning content that depicts, promotes and normalizes violence and hatred, both real and imagined, against persons with disabilities.

These online instances of hatred and violence against persons with disabilities aggravate rising patterns of intolerance against the community in real world scenarios.

Thus, it becomes imperative to identify these instances of ableism as they occur, and also call out ableism as a specific and under-addressed form of online harm on these platforms. Places like India have illustrated how seemingly “innocuous” ableist content can persist online despite judicial or legislative intent to course correct. Because of this, platforms must explore potential pathways to achieving safer, inclusive online spaces for persons with disabilities.