Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for automatically moderating communications using hierarchical and nested whitelists. An example method comprises receiving a message including one or more words; determining whether the words of the message match any words in a first whitelist; determining whether the words of the message match any words in a second whitelist if it is determined that at least one of the words of the message does not match any of the words in the first whitelist; calculating an unacceptability value if it is determined that all of the words of the message match any of the words in the second whitelist; and publishing the message if the unacceptability value is below a predetermined threshold.