The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America

Source: 
Author: 
Coverage Type: 

A look at Facebook's content moderators at the company's Phoenix (AZ) site, which is operated by an outsourcing company named Cognizant. Some findings: 

  • Moderators in Phoenix will make just $28,800 per year, while the median Facebook employee earns $240,000 in salary, bonuses, and stock.
  • Employees can be fired after making just a handful of errors a week, and those who remain live in fear of former colleagues returning to seek vengeance. One man we spoke with started bringing a gun to work to protect himself.
  • Employees are developing PTSD-like symptoms after they leave the company, but are no longer eligible for any support from Facebook or Cognizant.
  • Employees have begun to embrace the fringe viewpoints of the videos and memes that they are supposed to moderate. The Phoenix site is home to a flat Earther and a Holocaust denier. A former employee told me that he no longer believes 9/11 was a terrorist attack.

The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America