How we moderate in Habbo

Hello, Habbos! Recently we’ve seen an uptick in the number of players asking for more clarity and information about how moderation works in the Hotel. I want to run you through the technology we use, how it works, and why we use it.

You probably all know that the technology we use monitors every single line of chat posted by Habbos. That’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across every site. Impressive, huh? There are two main features, or components to this:

1. Word filter. This filter is powered by a really cool, cutting edge bit of machine learning technology called Community Sift, supplied by the people over at TwoHat. It applies the famous bobba word to words that we consider racist or homophobic, sensitive details like email addresses and phone numbers, and other words that we feel could make Habbo a less safe place for our community members.
2. Chat line monitor. As well as Habbos having access to tools to report bad behaviour, or behaviour that could be deemed inappropriate, the same technology uses advanced algorithms to scan chat lines and automatically flags any suspicious sentences.

Some community members have raised concerns about the assumed absence of human moderation in Habbo, so I also wanted to highlight that humans are still very much part of the moderation process! Every single sanction that is handed out by the system is checked, and if necessary, corrected by staff from each hotel’s community team. While the percentage of sanctions that turn out to be incorrect is less than 1%, we do appreciate that it can be frustrating when this happens to you. We’re always looking for ways to improve the technology with our partners at Community Sift. 

The whole team here at Habbo are committed to keeping Habbo a fun, but more importantly safe place for everyone. We firmly believe that this combination of cutting edge moderation technology and human oversight achieves this.

I hope this sheds some light on how things are done. Thanks for reading!

-Istanbul