Personal Moderation

Personal moderation refers to content moderation tools that allow individual users to control what content appears on their own feeds and experiences, as distinct from platform-level decisions that affect all users. Personal moderation actions include muting or blocking accounts, customizing content sensitivity thresholds, filtering keywords, and managing notification settings. Because personal moderation affects only the configuring user's experience without removing content for others, it is generally regarded as a less restrictive alternative to platform-enforced content removal, and is preferred by users who value free expression. For digital accessibility, personal moderation tools are important because they allow users to customize their environments to reduce exposure to harmful content — such as hate speech targeting disability communities — without requiring platforms to act on their behalf, giving individuals with disabilities greater agency over their online experience.