Different Sides of Fairness - Evaluations of Fairness of Nextdoor’s Content Moderation System

Online platforms are increasingly investing significant resources into the systems used to report and remove unwanted content on the platforms. However, building these systems in ways that strengthen trust and are seen as fair by those who are engaging directly with them - either as a reporter of content or as an individual having content removed - still remains a challenge for many platforms. Using two surveys - one sent to individuals who have recently reported content and an identical survey to those who had content removed from the platform - paired with logged platform data in the six months before and three months following the surveys, we explore the associations between people's perception of the fairness of Nextdoor's moderation system and later behaviors on the platform including content removals, future reporting, and future visitations to the platform. We find that those who felt their moderation experience was relatively more fair are more likely to report content to the platform again and choose to visit the platform more frequently in the months that follow. These findings demonstrate the connection between fair moderation systems and engagement on the platform more broadly, pointing towards opportunities for platforms to build trust and legitimacy through better design of the systems used for reporting and removal.