Most social media platforms implement content moderation to address interpersonal harms such as harassment. Content moderation relies on offender-centered, punitive approaches, e.g., bans and content removal. We consider an alternative justice framework, restorative justice, which aids victims in healing, supports offenders in repairing the harm, and engages community members in addressing the harm collectively. To assess the utility of restorative justice in addressing online harm, we interviewed 23 users from Overwatch gaming communities, including moderators, victims, and offenders; such communities are particularly susceptible to harm, with nearly three quarters of all online game players suffering from some form of online abuse. We study how the communities currently handle harm cases through the lens of restorative justice and examine their attitudes toward implementing restorative justice processes. Our analysis reveals that cultural, technical, and resource-related obstacles hinder implementation of restorative justice within the existing punitive framework despite online community needs and existing structures to support it. We discuss how current content moderation systems can embed restorative justice goals and practices and overcome these challenges.

翻译：大多数社交媒体平台通过内容审核来应对骚扰等人际伤害。内容审核依赖于以违规者为中心的惩罚性手段，例如封禁和内容移除。我们探讨了一种替代性司法框架——恢复性司法，它有助于受害者愈合创伤，支持违规者修复伤害，并引导社区成员共同应对伤害。为评估恢复性司法在处理在线伤害方面的效用，我们采访了《守望先锋》游戏社区的23名用户，包括版主、受害者和违规者；此类社区特别容易受到伤害，近四分之三的在线游戏玩家曾遭受某种形式的网络虐待。我们通过恢复性司法的视角研究了社区当前处理伤害案件的方式，并考察了他们对实施恢复性司法程序的态度。我们的分析表明，尽管在线社区存在需求且已有支持结构，但文化、技术和资源相关的障碍阻碍了在现有惩罚性框架内实施恢复性司法。我们讨论了当前内容审核系统如何嵌入恢复性司法的目标与实践，并克服这些挑战。