No evidence of protection: Imaginary bulletproof glass fails to reduce psychological harm in content moderation

Content moderators exposed to graphic content online are at risk of negative mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety and distressing intrusive thoughts—a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, there is little research on strategies to protect people exposed to graphic content. Here, we empirically tested a strategy suggested on a range of online sources for handling traumatic imagery–visualizing bulletproof glass exists between oneself and the screen. Using a content moderator simulation paradigm with Amazon Mechanical Turk participants (N = 202), we experimentally tested whether this intervention reduces outcomes associated with exposure to graphic imagery. We found no empirical support for this intervention influencing intrusive thought frequency, negative intrusion characteristics like intensity, anxiety, positive affect, or negative affect. We conclude that this bulletproof glass strategy should not be recommended to groups exposed to graphic content, like content moderators.