Google Chat Introduces New Moderation Tool

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Google’s got a new update for its Chat app this week. This comes hot on the heels of their star messages feature for iOS and Android.

Now, they’re introducing a new moderation tool. It’s nestled right in the admin console. It’s been tailor-made for reviewing and acting on reported Google Chat content. You can find it under Apps / Google Workspace / Moderation.

The bigwigs at Google have announced that super admins will get the keys to this tool. It’ll be ready for them to use once it’s live in Google Chat. They’ll also be able to hand out the new “Moderate Chat content report” privilege to users.

Google’s got a suggestion though. They reckon this privilege should only be given to users who can handle reviewing Chat content. If not, it won’t do much to lighten the load for the super admins.

When a user submits a new report, the moderation tool can be put to work. It can be used to view all reports tied to a message, check the edit history of a message and conversation transcript. It can even show up to 5 messages posted before the reported message. Plus, it dishes out details about the conversation like the number of participants, space managers, guidelines, and more.

There’s more to it though. Moderators can add comments to the report if the content needs more scrutiny in the future. Google’s also revealed that the moderation tool will have a tab for managing quarantine Gmail messages. The Gmail tab is open to all Google Workspace customers.

The new moderation tool can be accessed via Apps / Google Workspace / Moderation. It’s set to roll out in the next fortnight. It’ll be up for grabs for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers.