Facebook’s content moderators in Kenya are suing Meta for creating a work environment that is nothing less than torture. About 200 former Facebook contractors in Kenya are suing Meta and local contractor Sama over working conditions that could have implications for social media moderators around the world.
Content moderators are vital in keeping social media the jolly good place it appears to be on the surface. The reality is, that people upload and post all sorts of things – from children being molested to people being killed and mutilated. Content moderators would have to look at, or read all sorts of horrors on Facebook.
Reports have emerged from several local contracting firms in Africa, which states that moderators often have breakdowns during their 8-hour shifts. Some, overwhelmed moderatos would often scream or cry.
Meta’s exploitation of content moderators
It is the first known court challenge outside the United States, where Facebook settled with moderators in 2020. Content moderators working in the US had sued Meta earlier for their failure to ensure a safe working environment.
As a result of the settlement, Meta started hiring more contractors as moderators in other countries.
The 200 people suing Meta and Sama, were employed at a contracted facility in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, which served as the outsourced content moderation hub for the social media giant. Their responsibilities involved screening and removing any content that could be deemed illegal or harmful from users across Africa that violated the platform’s community standards and terms of service.
Earlier this year, the moderators were laid off by Sama as it discontinued its involvement in the business. Despite a court order mandating the extension of their contracts until the case is resolved, the moderators assert that the companies involved are disregarding the order.
Moderators fight back
Representing moderators from various African countries, they are currently seeking compensation of €1.46 billion. Their claims are based on allegations of unfavourable working conditions, which include inadequate mental health support and extremely low wages.
For those who had previously escaped political or ethnic violence in their home countries, being exposed to distressing content as moderators served as a triggering experience. Unfortunately, they encountered minimal support and were faced with a culture of secrecy within the workplace.
Additionally, they were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, preventing them from discussing their work or the conditions they faced. Personal belongings such as phones were also prohibited from being brought into the workplace.
The salary for top content moderators was €392 per month, with non-Kenyans getting a small expat allowance on top of that. Sama maintains that this is about four times higher than the local wage and that most of their moderators lived close to the international poverty line of €1.74 a day before being hired.
Mental health is not for developing or underdeveloped countries it seems
In countries like Kenya, where there is an abundance of inexpensive labour, the practice of outsourcing sensitive work such as content moderation has led to an exploitative industry that capitalizes on global economic inequality. Companies such as Meta often take advantage of this disparity, causing harm, and then shirk responsibility by claiming they didn’t directly employ the individuals involved since they work through third-party contractors.
Moreover, concerns have been raised about the quality of mental health care provided to moderators, with doubts arising about the effectiveness and confidentiality of therapy services offered. The Facebook contractor, Sama, based in the United States, failed to prioritize the provision of post-traumatic professional counselling to moderators in their Nairobi office. The counsellors available were poorly trained to address the experiences and challenges faced by the moderators.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has stated that their contractors are contractually obligated to pay their employees above the industry standard in the markets where they operate. Additionally, they claim to offer on-site support provided by trained practitioners.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
0 Comments: