Facebook moderators say company has risked their lives by forcing them back to the office
At a Facebook deletion heart in Berlin, the brokers, who work for a third-party agency, take away unlawful hate speech from the social community.
Gordon Welters for The New York Times
More than 200 Facebook content material moderators from throughout the U.S. and Europe have written an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and urged him to let them work at home throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
“We, the undersigned Facebook content moderators and Facebook employees, write to express our dismay at your decision to risk our lives — and the lives of our colleagues and loved ones — to maintain Facebook’s profits during the pandemic,” reads the letter, which was revealed Wednesday.
“After months of allowing content moderators to work from home, faced with intense pressure to keep Facebook free of hate and disinformation, you have forced us back to the office.”
The moderators go on to demand that Facebook maximizes at-home working, gives hazard pay, ends outsourcing, and offers “real” healthcare and psychiatric care.
A Facebook spokesperson advised CNBC that the company appreciates the work its content material reviewers do and that it prioritizes their well being and security.
The social media big, which is continually battling to hold its platform freed from questionable posts, photographs and movies, outsources a lot of its content material moderating to corporations like Accenture and CPL.
“Before the pandemic, content moderation was easily Facebook’s most brutal job,” reads the letter, which can also be addressed to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief working officer, in addition to Accenture CEO Julie Sweet and CPL CEO Anne Heraty. “We waded through violence and child abuse for hours on end. Moderators working on child abuse content had targets increased during the pandemic, with no additional support.”
“Now, on top of work that is psychologically toxic, holding onto the job means walking into a hot zone. In several offices, multiple COVID cases have occurred on the floor. Workers have asked Facebook leadership, and the leadership of your outsourcing firms like Accenture and CPL, to take urgent steps to protect us and value our work. You refused. We are publishing this letter because we are left with no choice.”
Last month, The Guardian reported that Facebook moderators at CPL had been being pressured to work in a Dublin office regardless of a high-tier lockdown, whereas Facebook’s personal staff labored from house.
The moderators, who’re paid considerably lower than the common Facebook worker, declare in the letter that Facebook’s AI software program cannot detect all the content material that breaches the company’s insurance policies.
“Without our work, Facebook is unusable,” the letter continues. “Its empire collapses. Your algorithms cannot spot satire. They cannot sift journalism from disinformation. They cannot respond quickly enough to self-harm or child abuse. We can.”
“Facebook needs us. It is time that you acknowledged this and valued our work. To sacrifice our health and safety for profit is immoral.”
A Facebook spokesperson mentioned: “While we believe in having an open internal dialogue, these discussions need to be honest. The majority of these 15,000 global content reviewers have been working from home and will continue to do so for the duration of the pandemic.”
They added: “All of them have access to health care and confidential wellbeing resources from their first day of employment, and Facebook has exceeded health guidance on keeping facilities safe for any in-office work.”
CPL and Accenture didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
More than 25 Facebook content material moderators in Dublin not too long ago quit to take jobs with TikTookay’s new belief and security hubs.
