Deleter: A Movie Review

Don’t delete the dead

The movie revolves around the life of Lyra (Nadine Lustre) , an online content moderator whose job is to remove posts or contents from social media. Her job involves a huge risk of watching graphic videos she has to filter from the Internet – videos that shows disturbing images of murders, holdups and suicide on a daily basis.

Lyra remains undisturbed despite seeing many violent imageries until such time that a dark presence , who turns out to be the spirit of her deceased co-worker Aileen (Louise Delos Reyes) starts stalking her after being questioned by her “bosses” about Aileen’s mysterious death.

“Deleter” centralizes on the dark truth or sides of being a “content moderator” and the possible trauma they face on a daily basis as they had to filter video contents depicting disturbing images like murder, terrorism, suicide and the likes.

What I Liked About The Movie

I must say that the director did a marvelous job in making this movie as it lets the viewers learn the pros and cons of being a content moderator on social media.

What I also liked is the part where the movie showed Lyra during her younger years (played by Elia Ilano).

What I Didn’t Like About The Movie

There are also parts that I didn’t like about the movie such as seeing disturbing or gory images of death, suicide, crimes, terrorism and the things we would often see on social media on a daily basis. That was why I would cover my face whenever disturbing or horrifying images would be shown.

Insights Just right after watching the movie, I’ve learned and seen how content moderators in real life struggle on a daily basis as they go on their work and how it takes a toll on their mental health (as seen in Nadine Lustre’s character in the movie).

Sometimes, or most of the times, content moderators don’t receive the support they need for their mental health which is another ugly truth (which is a must as they are susceptible or prone to mental health disorders, given what their job description is).

Source:

• “What is a content moderator? What Do They Do? How To Become One? by Ralitsa Golemanova from Imagga; https://imagga.com/blog/what-is-a-content-moderator/
  

• The Hidden Consequences of Moderating Social Media’s Dark Side” by Jonathan Crossfield” from Content Marketing Institute ; https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/cco-digital/july-2019/social-media-moderators-stress/

• “Why Protecting the Mental Health of Content Moderators is a Must” by Merlene Leano; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-protecting-mental-health-content-moderators-must-merlene-leano?trk=pulse-article_more-articles_related-content-card