Interesting that Shopify clearly documents the cost when moderation isn’t externalized to either ML/AI or underpaid contractors: > Shopify launched an investig

Interesting that Shopify clearly documents the cost when moderation isn’t externalized to either ML/AI or underpaid contractors: > Shopify launched an investigation and the company ultimately restored all items and removed all strikes, but that came at significant cost. “Those efforts cost Shopify tens of thousands of dollars in personnel time and resources. “Dozens” is legalese for [x>12; x<151], so Shopify is suggesting a cost of moderation per single DMCA of “tens of thousands” / “a hundred or so” = “tens of tens or so”, which is “hundreds of dollars per request” in plain language. So, if Shopify is placing the cost of actually considering a DMCA notice — as opposed to just machine-processing it like any other bigcorp — then that explains a lot about modern bigcorp account closures. They would rather lose your business to a false positive, than risk owing a process that costs $X00 per “please reconsider, here is my evidence” request from a customer. This also makes it possible to estimate the potential cost in “risk of exposure” SEC filing terms for any proposed law that compels providers to 1) explain algorithmic decisions, 2) process appeals with human beings.