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The Secret Lives of Facebook Moderators in America

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Feb 25, 2019.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Casey Newton, writing at The Verge:


    Over the past three months, I interviewed a dozen current and former employees of Cognizant in Phoenix. All had signed non-disclosure agreements with Cognizant in which they pledged not to discuss their work for Facebook — or even acknowledge that Facebook is Cognizant’s client. The shroud of secrecy is meant to protect employees from users who may be angry about a content moderation decision and seek to resolve it with a known Facebook contractor. The NDAs are also meant to prevent contractors from sharing Facebook users’ personal information with the outside world, at a time of intense scrutiny over data privacy issues

    But the secrecy also insulates Cognizant and Facebook from criticism about their working conditions, moderators told me. They are pressured not to discuss the emotional toll that their job takes on them, even with loved ones, leading to increased feelings of isolation and anxiety.

    This story is terrifying.

     
  2. reachingfor

    Regular Supporter

    This headline got me real excited for a moment. I was expecting to read The Secret Lives of the Freemasons
     
  3. chcougar1

    Trusted

    I mean we probably don’t know the whole story of how Facebook was (in terms of data privacy, how things work behind the scenes, etc) when it first started but man I feel like it has got insane over the past 15 years.
     
  4. TomG

    Trusted Supporter

    The tough part here is that all there are enough brutal people in the world to need this level of moderation. Kind of a dismal view of humanity and I can’t imagine being bombarded with that every day
     
  5. somethingwitty

    Trusted

    I imagine working there is kind of like an ultraviolence vibe from Clockwork Orange...it seems unsettling.
     
    Serenity Now likes this.
  6. currytheword

    Trusted

    So basically Facebook is a toxic dumpster fire burning at both ends.
     
    Dan O'Neill likes this.
  7. grimis16

    Regular

    Same here, what a tease
     
    reachingfor likes this.