TikTok goes on strike: Moderators in Spain can’t take any more damage to their mental health

Surely you have ever wondered how it is possible that videos of explicit sex or worse nonsense do not appear on TikTok, with so many bad people in the world

Surely it has happened to you more than once: you’re watching TikTok, and before you know it, two hours have passed, and it’s already nighttime. The ability to watch one-minute videos, one after another, without encountering unpleasant surprises, thanks to one of the best algorithms ever created, is one of the keys to the success of the social network. The other key? The people in the shadows: the moderators.

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This one, not that one

I’m sure you’ve wondered at some point how it’s possible that explicit sexual content or even worse things don’t slip through on TikTok, considering the amount of malicious people in the world. There’s an explanation for it: a team behind the scenes choosing which videos can and cannot be on the platform. Currently, there are more than a hundred pairs of eyes watching everything that happens to prevent surprises.

Or, rather, there used to be, because the team has gone on an indefinite strike in Barcelona due to a series of reasons that are quite understandable, to be honest. After all, it’s a job that erodes mental health, moderating violent and sexual content for hours in exchange for a rather small salary… and, as a new development this year, the elimination of remote work.

Moreover, the company has decided that, in addition to this measure, it will further reduce the moderators’ salaries to compensate for transportation to the offices. Yes, reduce. Quite nonsensical, indeed. The striking employees are asking for the exact opposite: they want to be reimbursed an extra 20 euros for each day they have to work in the office to cover the increased expenses. And that’s not even considering the issue of mass leaves due to depression.

For now, the strike is primarily focused on implementing remote work, ensuring that 30% of the staff can work from home, with no one being forced to be in the office all the time. It remains to be seen if they will succeed, or else TikTok might find itself without its guardians… and that’s where things could start to fall apart.

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The video game industry is facing one of its biggest crises: the drums of a strike are sounding

Dubbing and motion capture actors approve the possibility of going on strike if negotiations for their working conditions do not advance.

To gain rights, one must fight. To maintain them, one must defend them. This requires conversations, negotiations, and sometimes more. For example, strikes. It’s something no one wants to have to do, but in certain situations, it’s necessary. It’s what must be done to achieve what is fair. And that’s what the video game industry is now facing: the specter of a strike looming over its head.

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This is because the SAG-AFTRA union has announced that a strike is also on the table for video game voice actors and motion capture performers. The union conducted a vote regarding an authorization request sent by one of its members earlier this month, and 98.32% of the participants in the vote are in favor of going on strike. However, there’s a condition: it will only happen if negotiations with the video game companies do not progress.

This means that if negotiations stall, the negotiating committee of the SAG-AFTRA union has the authorization from its members to initiate a strike. But it doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen.

In any case, it appears likely to happen. The agreement between voice actors and motion capture performers and video game companies has been unsuccessfully negotiated since October 2022. While the next negotiations are scheduled for this week, SAG-AFTRA doesn’t seem convinced that they will be fruitful. However, perhaps the recent preliminary agreement reached by Hollywood writers and actors might tilt the balance in their favor.

SAG-AFTRA is advocating for video game actors to receive salary improvements comparable to other actors, protection against the use of AI, a five-minute break for every hour worked, the presence of doctors on sets, a ban on requesting hazardous performances for auditions, and protection against vocal stress. The companies they are negotiating with include Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Epic Games, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Take 2 Productions, VoiceWorks Productions, and WB Games.

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