Content Moderation

 Area 1:

Content moderation is something that big social media and gaming platforms are focusing on, but they don't do most of the work themselves. They outsource it to low paid contractors outside the company. Some of the content is very traumatizing, and workers are exposed to a steady stream of unsavory images. Much of it is porn, but some includes images or videos of killings & self-harm or horrifying, traumatizing treatment of children.

Social media sites aren't required to moderate content, as they aren't considered publishers, but they must keep their sites user friendly enough that people won't abandon them. Much of the work is done in low-wage U.S. states or increasingly in countries like the Philippines, where labor rates are even lower. These content mods number over 100,000 worldwide, dwarfing the full-time headcount at companies like Google and Facebook. 

Area 2:

Just reading about the topics that were traumatizing to moderators had my stomach turning and made me feel gross. I cannot imagine having to see these images myself. 

Working in content moderation is akin to working in a private mental hospital. The employee is placed in a mentally unhealthy and potentially physically threatening environment. Profit is the overarching goal, work is minimum wage, and the employer provides little or no compensation for or mitigation of the toll on the employee. 

Long term impact of exposure to such content can trigger or worsen existing anxiety or depression and can cause PTSD, similar to working as a police officer or fire fighter. It seems it would either break you down or make you callous. Besides the long term mental trauma, I think one of the worst impacts is how it erodes the workers' trust in the goodness of other humans.

This industry is little different than firms that outsource to countries with lax environmental or worker protections. They are externalizing the cost of their platform with a poor quality of life for the contract employees. 

https://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/


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