200 Facebook Moderators Tell Zuckerberg They Are Being Forced Work In Covid-19 ‘Hot Zone’

Topline

More than 200 Facebook content moderators have signed an open letter to the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg alleging they are being pressured to come back to their workplace instead of continuing to work from home, putting them at risk of catching Covid-19.

Key Facts

Tangent

Facebook has said that it plans to expand the use of automated systems to detect and remove content that has an extremely high likelihood of violating its standards while human moderators will focus on more “impactful work.”

Crucial Quote

In a statement shared with Forbes, a Facebook spokesperson pushed back against the accusations stating that it prioritizes the health and safety of their content moderators, saying a majority of the company’s 15,000 global content reviewers “have been working from home and will continue to do so for the duration of the pandemic.” They added that all these workers “have access to health care and confidential wellbeing resources… and Facebook has exceeded health guidance on keeping facilities safe for any in-office work.”

Key Background

Facebook has been under severe pressure to clamp down on large volumes of misinformation and violent content about the global pandemic and the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, both of which have required significant oversight and moderation. The platform has also been home to rampant health-related misinformation which has grown amidst the pandemic, driven by anti-vaxxers groups on the platform. The platform’s human moderators — on whom Facebook still heavily relies on police content — have said that they face severe mental trauma as they are forced to watch hours of violent and graphic images which has led to some of them developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

Further Reading

Facebook content moderators demand better coronavirus protections (The Verge)

The Trauma Floor (The Verge)

Days After Returning To Office, Facebook Content Moderator Contracts Coronavirus (The Intercept)

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