Facebook compensated $ 52 million for censors traumatized

If you think being a moderator for Facebook is a leisurely job, you’re probably wrong. Facebook has approved a $ 52 million compensation for a group of content censors for mental health issues caused by this “scary” work.

Saying “scary” or “horrible” is not exaggerated by those who do this work will be exposed to dozens of malicious content such as terrorism, prostitution, racism … repeated day after day , thereby causing extremely negative effects on the psychology and health of the censors. There are even many cases requiring hospitalization for long-term treatment.

This huge compensation is part of a preliminary settlement of a group lawsuit by Facebook’s group of censors in 2018, related to stress disorder, traumatic trauma (PTSD) due to must view malicious content continuously.

“You come to the office at 9am every day, turn on your computer and witness someone being cut or hacked. You will see such horrible things every minute, every hour, day in and day out, ” a former Facebook moderator said in an interview with The Guardian in 2017.

In a preliminary agreement filed last weekend at the San Mateo California Supreme Court, Facebook will have to compensate each person $ 1,000 for 11,250 people who have been doing content censorship work at Facebook headquarters in California. , Arizona, Texas and Florida, from 2015 to present. In particular, there are cases that can receive up to $ 50,000 compensation depending on personal circumstances, mental health and the impact of the work on their lives.

In addition, Facebook is also committed to providing additional mental health support services to moderators, as well as making changes to the censorship processes to address people’s mental health issues. labor.

This is only a preliminary resolution, it will have to be approved by the parties involved and especially the court, but it can be considered a landmark victory, requiring the host company. / employers must take greater responsibility in ensuring the physical and mental health of workers, especially with dangerous jobs in the field of technology.

Source : Techtalk