Labeler

A labeler in the AT Protocol is a specialized service that provides content classification and moderation judgements across the ATmosphere. Labelers analyze content from the network and produced structured metadata label that can be used by other services to inform content filtering, warning display, and other user experience decisions.

Labelers make "opinionated" judgements about content in the network. While services like relays and AppViews aim to be neutral in their processing of data, labelers explicitly provide subjective assessments to help users navigate the social landscape. Users can select which labelers to trust, adjust filtering thresholds, and override labeling decisions for specific content or accounts. Client applications typically provide interfaces for managing these preferences.

Labelers consume the firehose stream from relays and analyze various types of content, including posts, blobs, profiles, and other records. They then produce a stream of labels that classify this content according to their specific criteria and methodologies.

These labels might identify content as spam, harassment, adult content, misleading information, or any other category relevant to content moderation. They can also provide more nuanced classifications like topic categorization, language detection, or sentiment analysis.

Architecture

Labelers operate as independent services within the ATmosphere. They connect to the network's firehose to receive real-time updates about new content, process this content using their classification algorithms, and publish their labels through standardized APIs.

The labels produced by labelers are consumed by AppViews or Personal Data Servers (PDSes) which integrate them into their content delivery pipelines. When a user's client application requests content, these services can include relevant labels, allowing the client to apply appropriate filtering or display warnings based on the user's preferences.

The separation of concerns creates a clean architectural boundary between content indexing and content judgement, allowing each component to specialize in a particular function.

Implementation

Implementing a labeler involves several key components:

• A connection to the AT Protocol firehose to receive content updates
• Classification algorithms or human review processes to analyze content (such as Ozone)
• A database to store labels and track content that has been processed
• An API that conforms to the labeler protocol for publishing labels
• Authentication mechanisms to verify the labeler's identity

Labelers can employ various techniques for content classification, from simple keyword matching to sophisticated machine learning models. Some labelers might involve human reviewers for particularly nuanced judgements, while others might be fully automated.

The AT Protocol defines a standard lexicon for label formats, ensuring that labels from different providers can be consistently interpreted by consuming services. This standardization allows for interoperability while still permitting innovation in classification methodologies.

Decentralization Benefits

The separation of labeling from core infrastructure provides several benefits for decentralization goals. The labeler ecosystem reduces the power of any single entity to control what content is visible on the network. As a result, the system creates market pressure for labelers to provide accurate and fair judgements, ideally leading to innovation in content moderation approaches without requiring changes to the underlying protocol. Additionally, labelers enable specialized moderation for different communities and contexts.