{"id":135915,"date":"2019-05-10T20:45:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T20:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=135915"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:59:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:59:05","slug":"facebook-moderator-dangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-moderator-dangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook moderators face PTSD from graphic content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

We first heard about the lives of Facebook\u2019s moderators last year when Motherboard published an inside look at the company\u2019s content moderation process<\/a>, policies, and challenges.<\/p>\n

Instead of enjoying all of the tech company perks from cereal bars to craft beer and foosball,\u00a0 content moderators see high instances of drug abuse, PTSD<\/strong>, and anxiety disorders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moderators often work as third-party contractors in a low-pay, high-stress<\/strong> environment. These people see the absolute worst sides of humanity from blood, guts, and gore<\/strong> to hate crimes and abuse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t seem like much has changed since August 2018. Facebook still treats moderators like second-class citizens. Worker safety still falls by the wayside.<\/p>\n

A stark inequality problem<\/h2>\n

\"inequality\"<\/p>\n

A couple of months back, The Verge\u2019s Casey Newton wrote an investigative piece of his own. He found another set of disturbing revelations about Facebook and its content moderators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The piece primarily covered issues facing the moderation staff like exposure to violent content and conspiracy theories. However, the report also highlighted the vast difference in the work environment<\/strong> and compensation<\/strong> between typical Facebook workers and content moderators.<\/p>\n

The average Facebook employee earns about $240,000 per year. The average person working in the company\u2019s Phoenix-based moderation center earns $28,000.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s latest campus, designed by architect Frank Gehry, boasts its own redwood forest<\/a>\u00a0and plenty of green space. It is ideal for decompressing after a stressful day on the job.<\/strong> Content moderators don’t have that luxury.<\/p>\n

The psychological impact of violent content<\/h2>\n

\"Stressed<\/p>\n

According to Psychology Today, violent content from TV news can increase PTSD, anxiety, and depression<\/a>. Reportedly, watching the news cycle after a mass tragedy can increase your chances of developing something called vicarious traumatization.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook Moderators, by contrast, aren\u2019t seeing humanity\u2019s worst events through the filter of the cable news station. They\u2019re on the front lines. So as one might imagine, the impact of these videos is likely much more significant.<\/p>\n

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The Verge report describes one instance of a woman named \u201cChloe\u201d who is asked to moderate a Facebook post in front of a group of trainees.<\/p>\n

The post in question depicts a man being stabbed to death while begging for his life<\/strong>. Chloe\u2019s job in this scenario is to tell the group whether the post should be removed. Most people never have to see this type of thing, much less calmly describe the scenario to co-workers during routine training.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The recommended remedy for this vicarious traumatization is to step away from disturbing content, take a break from the news, and try to do something positive. Valid, sure, but when it\u2019s your job to look out for this stuff, there\u2019s no real escape. That\u2019s a tremendous amount of stress to carry around for $28k a year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear that Facebook knows the value of creating positive workspaces for their employees \u2014 again, see the redwood forest as a point of reference. However, it does not look like they are doing enough for their moderators.<\/p>\n

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5 best apps to help you manage stress<\/p>\r\n Read now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Conspiracy theories spread<\/h2>\n

\"conspiracy<\/p>\n

The effects of graphic content can have a huge impact on the well-being of the people who work inside the moderation centers. However, Newton found another disturbing trend <\/strong>that has some wider negative implications for society.<\/p>\n

Apparently, reviewing conspiracy theory posts\u00a0spreads the information contagion<\/a>. Basically, those flat-earthers<\/strong> might be doing even more harm than they realize.<\/p>\n

The article mentions a moderator who says he \u201cno longer believes 9\/11 was a terrorist attack.\u201d Another walks the floor talking about the flat earth theory.<\/p>\n

Who should deal with content moderation, anyway?<\/h2>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

Moderators are taking action. Two former moderators have joined a lawsuit against the company<\/a>, citing that symptoms of PTSD were brought on by reviewing violent images on the job.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Facebook says that about 38% of the hate speech they detect is done using AI. The company has plans to improve its AI moderation effort<\/strong>, but there\u2019s a long way to go. Still, there needs to be a human moderator to make sure nothing heinous slips through the cracks.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, protecting the rest of us from Facebook’s horrors comes at the expense of a safe workplace and a healthy mind.<\/p>\n

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As toxic as Facebook can be for us, it is even worse for Facebook moderators. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9161,"featured_media":137480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[2353,1059,1748,1988],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-135915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionfacebook","tag-facebook","tag-mental-health","tag-scandal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326091,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135915\/revisions\/326091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135915"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=135915"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=135915"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=135915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}