Bodyguard - Hide Toxic Social Media Content

If you have a notable presence on social media platforms, it’s likely you encounter abusive or hateful content in your comments and replies. Bodyguard, a French company, has recently made its app and service available in English to shield users from this type of online toxicity. The service has been operating in French for several years, gaining a user base of 50,000 individuals.

According to founder and CEO Charles Cohen, “Our technology identifies hate speech online with an accuracy rate of 90% to 95%, while maintaining a low false positive rate of only 2%.”

The company began by releasing a mobile application accessible to all users. Once downloaded, the app connects to your preferred social networks, allowing you to customize your moderation preferences. Several categories are available, including insults, body shaming, bullying, sexual harassment, racism, and homophobic remarks. You can assign a priority level – low or high – to each category based on your tolerance.

Following this setup, the app operates automatically in the background. Bodyguard’s servers analyze replies and comments, determining whether they violate your chosen settings. The app can then take actions such as concealing comments, silencing users, or blocking them entirely. When you revisit platforms like Instagram or Twitter, the offensive content will be hidden from view.

Currently, the app provides support for Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. However, due to restrictions with their respective application programming interfaces (APIs), it is unable to moderate content on Snapchat and TikTok.

Unlike many moderation services that depend on machine learning or keyword filtering, Bodyguard employs a unique method. Its algorithm refines comments and analyzes their meaning within the broader context. This allows it to assess whether a comment is offensive to you personally, to another individual, or to a specific group.

The startup has also recently introduced a business-to-business (B2B) offering. Other organizations can now integrate a Bodyguard-powered API to moderate comments in real-time on their own social media channels or within their applications. The company utilizes a standard software-as-a-service subscription model for its B2B clients.