Posts in English are aggressively moderated — while similar content in other languages appears to slip through.

Our investigation has revealed that major social media platforms may be creating dangerous blind spots, potentially allowing people-smuggling networks to operate more freely outside English-language scrutiny.

We tested the disparity in moderation across languages.
We examined how smugglers respond to enforcement by switching languages and using coded phrases.

The implications are serious, this imbalance may be unintentionally aiding the global people smuggling industry.

If moderation is uneven, are platforms unintentionally facilitating organised migration networks?Is it a resourcing failure? Or something more sinister?