
Member Reviews

In my opinion "We Had To Remove This Post" should come with a big fat content warning re: violence, death, self-harm, animal abuse, substance abuse, sexual violence and couple of -isms. Creating a cycle of trauma, in which the readers need to go through the same experiences as the characters in the novella whose storylines were rooted in the experiences actual, real-life people who work(ed) as content moderators for an unnamed social media platform, is not an answer.
Hanna Bervoets' book is inspired by real events and the author explores, with a lot of intricacies, the ways working as a content moderator can inform an individual: from desensitising them to violent imagery to radicalising them to becoming flat-earthers and/or Holocaust-deniers.
The novella is written from the point of view of Kayleigh, who started working as a content moderator out of economic necessity. It is apparent that her previous life also influenced the way she perceives herself, also in the relationship to others. Bervoets stays on-trend, creating a multidimensional protagonist, who is an anti-hero. As readers, we also get a glimpse of how Kayleigh's actions are perceived by others, especially her girlfriend who offers completely different interpretation of their interactions than Kayleigh, causing a lot of doubt regarding protagonist's morality and personality.
It was an interesting read, based on a very current and hot topic that leaves readers with a lot of questions.

This was AMAZING - so dark, so perfectly paced, and such a fascinating exploration of content moderation. Loved it.