Moderate Every Live Stream. Automatically.

1. Download the Moderator Plugin

SSH into your Ant Media server and download the plugin JAR into the plugins directory:

cd /usr/local/antmedia/plugins
sudo wget https://streamtoolbox.com/download/ams-moderator-1.1.0.jar

NOTE: Check the StreamToolBox Products site for the latest plugin version.

2. Get Your AWS Rekognition Credentials

Before creating the Moderator configuration, create an IAM user in AWS with Amazon Rekognition permissions enabled.

• In AWS go to IAM → Users → Create User
• Assign the user programmatic access and attach permissions for Amazon Rekognition

Create User

Go to Security Credentials and click Create Access Key.

Select Applications running outside AWS.

Then generate:

• Access Key ID
• Secret Access Key

You will use these values in the moderator.conf file in the next step.

3. Create the Moderator Configuration File

Create the configuration file and open it for editing:

sudo touch /usr/local/antmedia/conf/moderator.conf
sudo nano /usr/local/antmedia/conf/moderator.conf

Add the following configuration:

moderator.enabled=true
moderator.aws.region="eu-west-2"
moderator.aws.access.key.id="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY"
moderator.aws.secret.access.key="YOUR_SECRET_KEY"
moderator.frame.sampling.rate=25
moderator.labels="Smoking,Tobacco,Drugs & Tobacco,Alcohol,Violence,Nudity"
moderator.action="notify"
moderator.notify.webhook.url="http://localhost:9998/anything"

IMPORTANT:

• Moderator requires decoded video frames. Enable ABR (Adaptive Bitrate) in your Ant Media application settings and configure at least one transcoding resolution.
• After updating the configuration file, restart Ant Media Server for changes to take effect.

4. Configuration Loading Order

Moderator reads its settings from configuration files in the following order:

Global Configuration File

/usr/local/antmedia/conf/moderator.conf

Applies the same moderation settings across all Ant Media applications.

Application-Specific Configuration File

/usr/local/antmedia/conf/moderator-[application-name].conf

# Example
/usr/local/antmedia/conf/moderator-liveapp.conf

Application-specific configuration files always take priority over the global configuration file.

Custom Configuration Path (Optional)

Override the default config location by adding this JVM argument to the Ant Media service startup file:

-Dmoderator.config.file=/var/tmp/my.conf

NOTE: If no Moderator configuration file exists, the plugin automatically uses its default settings.

5. Configuration Reference

Quick reference for every available Moderator setting:

6. (Optional) Start a Local Webhook Receiver

In Step 3, moderator.notify.webhook.url is configured for demonstration and testing.

When the Moderator plugin detects restricted content (smoking, alcohol, violence, nudity, etc.), it sends a notification to the URL you define. Think of a webhook as an automatic alert sent by the plugin to another system. Use cases:

• Trigger moderation workflows
• Notify your backend application
• Alert moderators instantly
• Stop streams automatically
• Store moderation events for audit logs
• Capture incident details for review

For quick local testing, run a webhook receiver using httpbin. This creates a temporary local endpoint that shows you exactly what the plugin is sending:

sudo docker run -p 9998:80 kennethreitz/httpbin

7. Add the License File and Restart Ant Media

If you have purchased a license for your Moderator Plugin, copy it into the conf directory and restart the service:

# Copy the Moderator license file
sudo cp moderator-license.lic /usr/local/antmedia/conf/

# Restart Ant Media Server
sudo systemctl restart antmedia.service

8. Publish a Stream and Verify Detection

You can publish a stream using OBS, vMix, ffmpeg, or any RTMP-compatible encoder.

Using OBS

Using FFMPEG

# Download the sample video
wget https://streamtoolbox.com/download/big_buck_bunny_720p_h264.mov

# Publish the stream with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -re -i big_buck_bunny_720p_h264.mov -c copy -f flv rtmp://localhost:1935/LiveApp/myStream

Watch the logs via CLI or Ant Media Web Panel > Logs:

# Watch the Ant Media logs
tail -f /usr/local/antmedia/log/ant-media-server.log

# Plugin attached to the stream
Registering Moderator frame listener in stream test
AWS Rekognition service initialized for region: eu-west-2

# Matching content detected
Detected moderation labels in test: Smoking, Drugs & Tobacco, Alcohol
Detected moderation labels in test: Smoking (96.89), Drugs & Tobacco Paraphernalia & Use (96.89), Drugs & Tobacco (96.89), Pills (1.84), Products (1.84)
Detected moderation labels in test: Smoking (98.63), Drugs & Tobacco Paraphernalia & Use (98.63), Drugs & Tobacco (98.63), Pills (0.72), Products (0.72)

# No matching content found
No bad content detected in test

✔ Success: Log entries showing Detected moderation labels with confidence scores confirm the plugin is analyzing frames and Rekognition is returning results.

If no labels are detected:

• Make sure adaptive bitrate transcoding is enabled. Moderator requires decoded video frames for analysis.
• Lower moderator.frame.sampling.rate to 25. Helps the plugin analyze frames more frequently.
• Use a clear test video. Smoking, alcohol, violence, or nudity scenes should be large and visible in the frame.
• Expand moderator.labels. Include broader categories such as Tobacco, Drugs & Tobacco, Alcohol, Violence, and Nudity.