We Had to Remove This Post
We Had to Remove This Post (original title in Dutch: Wat wij zagen, lit. 'What we saw') is a 2021 novella by Dutch writer Hanna Bervoets.[1][2]
Summary
[edit]The novella follows the story of Kayleigh, who has recently taken a job as a content moderator for social media platform Hexa after accruing a significant amount of debt. Kayleigh and her co-workers initially form tight bonds, however, as time passes and they are subjected to an ever-increasing amount of violent, conspiratorial, and offensive content while being closely surveilled and graded by the company, their relationships begin to break down.
Publishing history
[edit]The novella is the first of Bervoets' works to be published in English, translated by Emma Rault. 600,000 copies of the novel were printed during the first year of its distribution in the Netherlands.[3]
Themes
[edit]The novella examines the social impact of social media and the working conditions of social media content moderators.[4]
Reception
[edit]Johanna Thomas-Corr of The Sunday Times called the novella "a disturbing page-turner about the parts of the internet we don’t see."[5] Kirkus Reviews described the novella as a "scathing, darkly humorous exploration" that "masterfully captures our contemporary moment without devolving into national politics or soapbox rhetoric."[6]
Houman Barekat of The Guardian said that the novella was "nothing if not timely," pointing to the proposed acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, but criticised the novel for offering "little in the way of psychological acuity."[7]
References
[edit]- ^ van den Berg, Laura (22 May 2022). "A New Psychological Thriller Explores the Grim Underbelly of Life as a Social Media Moderator". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ "We Had to Remove This Post". Publishers Weekly. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ McNeil, Joanne (23 August 2022). "The Filter: What is life like for content moderators?". The Nation. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ Bervoets, Hanna (2 June 2022). "Excerpt: We Had To Remove This Post". CrimeReads. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ Thomas-Corr, Johanna (5 June 2022). "We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets, the human cost of social media". The Times. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ "Bervoets just gets it. This is, unironically, a novel for our time". Kirkus Reviews. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
- ^ Barekat, Houman (16 June 2022). "We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets review – confessions of a content moderator". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 September 2022.