Report: Facebook Moderators Are Routinely High and Joke About Suicide to Cope With Job

[TheBlackAdder]

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It’s no secret that the workforce tasked with reviewing the most offensive content on the web is underpaid, overworked, and poorly supported. A new story from The Verge on Facebook moderators in Phoenix, Arizona further illustrates the disturbing reality of life for these workers—who reportedly make just $28,800 a year and use sex and drugs to deal with the stress.

The report published on Monday detailed the experiences of current and former employees who worked at professional services company Cognizant, a company they say Facebook outsources its moderating efforts to. (The Verge used pseudonyms for all the workers interviewed, who say non-disclosure agreements were written to bar them from discussing Cognizant’s work with Facebook.) According to the report, employees experienced severe mental health distress, which they coped with by having sex at the office and smoking weed. Some even began believing the conspiracy theories they were tasked with reviewing. One quality assurance manager said he began bringing a gun to work in response to threats from fired workers.
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Employees told The Verge that moderators in the Phoenix office dealt with the hellish reality of their jobs by having sex in the office—in stairwells, bathrooms, parking garages, and a lactation room—smoking weed on breaks, and joking about suicide. A former moderator claimed that there was a joke among colleagues that “time to go hang out on the roof” was subtext for wanting to jump off the building.

Moderators for Facebook have to review graphic posts containing violence, dehumanizing speech, and child abuse, but they also have to weed through the conspiracy theories that run rampant on the web. It’s well-reported that the former has resulted in moderators developing PTSD and other debilitating mental health issues, but Monday’s report from The Verge indicates that the latter may be causing them to develop fringe beliefs.
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https://gizmodo.com/report-facebook-moderators-are-routinely-high-and-joke-1832870719


The house that Zuckerberg & Sandberg built. It seems nice. ☣️

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[mr_lebowski]

1. You know, if I didn't already have a good job ... paying way more? (nt)

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R for exposure.

[whathehell]

3. Hideous..

and ridiculously underpaid.

[fescuerescue]

4. Some places would use this as a selling point.

"reality of their jobs by having sex in the office—in stairwells, bathrooms, parking garages, and a lactation room—smoking weed on breaks, and joking about suicide"

[James48]

5. I wonder if they have any openings

Could be my next job- as long as I get done vacation from time to time. I’d love to be the guy banning the wackos-

[shanti]

6. Didn't they outsource this job to the Philippines?

There was something on teevee about it.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Independent Lens has a pertinent related release claiming outsourcing of these jobs.

INDEPENDENT LENS
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/the-cleaners/
The Cleaners
Season 20 Episode 3 | 1h 26m 11s

Social media sites have been under intense pressure to monitor and delete offensive, pornographic, and incendiary posts. Compassionately portraying the Filipino workers who comb through thousands of online images in the dark of night, The Cleaners exposes the dark side of information technology.

Here's the trailer...

[Fuzzpope]

8. I recall virtually identical circumstances at YouTube.