A Framework of Severity for Harmful Content Online

The proliferation of harmful content on online social media platforms has necessitated empirical understandings experiences harm and the development practices for mitigation. Both approaches to mitigating that harm, often through moderation, have implicitly embedded frameworks prioritization - what forms should be researched, how policy implemented, moderated. To aid efforts better understanding variety harms, they relate one another, prioritize harms relevant research, policy, practice, we present a theoretical framework severity content. By employing grounded theory approach, developed based interviews card-sorting activities conducted with 52 participants over course ten months. Through our analysis, identified four Types Harm (physical, emotional, relational, financial) eight Dimensions along which can understood (perspectives, intent, agency, experience, scale, urgency, vulnerability, sphere). We describe applied both research settings towards deeper specific (e.g., harassment) when implementing policies encompassing many harm.