We Had to Remove this Post Book Review

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We Had to Remove this Post, originally written in Dutch, centres on Kayleigh who works as a content moderator for a social media platform, It’s her job to moderate and remove any harmful or offensive posts. Day in day out. Kayleigh and the other members of the team have to watch/read/consume the potentially harmful posts and asses whether they can remain up on the platform. They have to reach their targets and as a result are subjected to hours of graphic and traumatising material. So it’s only a matter of time before it starts to affect them all…

If you’re a fan of the TV show Black Mirror, then this is one for you. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this, but can now say it’s a chilling narrative that will stay with you for a while after you turn the final page. The weight of what the moderators have to witness not only plays on your conscience as a reader, but comments a lot on the current toxicity of social media in real life and how much harm it has the potential to do – and the information it spreads.

Even though I knew what it was about, there was definitely a darker undercurrent than I unexpected which tinged the whole book and made it feel quite disturbing – but its message was clear; from violence to physical and sexual abuse, it’s no surprise that a lot of the book’s characters turn to coping mechanisms such as alcohol just to get them through the day. And not only that but we get a sense that the company they work for doesn’t care about the damage it does to their mental health but rather only cares about them all hitting their targets.

A deeply unsettling narrative, one of my only complaints is that I wish it was longer, though I suppose the way it leaves the story almost unfinished only adds to the unnerving nature of the book. Bervoets does a brilliant job of exploring the very real issues that face us in a society which revolves more and more around social media every day – take heed going in, but it’s worth the read!