The Cleaners

2018

1 hr. 28 min.

Documentary

List

93%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

The hidden shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the internet rids itself of what it doesn't like, such as violence, pornography and some political content.

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Audience Member

Raises some good issues about Facebooks moderators. Interesting, but not mentioned, was that most of this is outsourced to Manila, where a large percent of the population is Catholic, which may effect their views when moderating. The whole point of human moderation seems subsumed by making moderators adhere unerringly to FB policy-- delete the political cartoons with nudity, even though as far as free speech goes, they would be legally allowed under US law.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Brad Newsome

Sydney Morning Herald

Are we seeing a genocide in Burma as an externality of an algorithm written by nerds in California? That's one of many disturbing questions raised in this documentary.

Feb 22, 2019

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Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

The chilling, morally hyper-conscious film "The Cleaners"... introduces us to a handful of these hidden, meagerly paid office workers, cogs in a shadow business headquartered mainly in Manila in unassuming buildings.

Nov 20, 2018

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David Stratton

The Australian

Though The Cleaners, which is filmed in an ominous, noirish style, suffers from some unnecessary padding, it's a revealing and timely documentary.

Rated: 3.5/5

Oct 19, 2018

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Victor Stiff

Goomba Stomp

Even if you're not usually rattled by violence, expect the movie's images to shock you out of your apathy

Mar 30, 2020

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Richard Trenholm

CNET

If you're on the internet, you need to see The Cleaners.

Apr 16, 2019

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Musanna Ahmed

Film Inquiry

The moral and political debates around digital cleaning from a unique empirical perspective are what make the brilliantly assembled The Cleaners so compelling.

Mar 20, 2019

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Synopsis

The hidden shadow industry of digital cleaning, where the internet rids itself of what it doesn't like, such as violence, pornography and some political content.

Director: Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck
Executive Producer: Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman
Screenwriter: Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck, Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Production Co: I Wonder Pictures, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) [de], Motto Pictures, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, VPRO Television
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English