According to an announcement by Facebook, it has decided to pay a total amount of $52 million to its existing and former content moderators. The social media giant has agreed to pay this amount to compensate these content moderators for the issues regarding their deteriorating mental health. These content moderators were found suffering from PTSD, which developed while working for the company. Also, the company has decided to provide more and more counseling to these content moderators while they are working. According to the settlement that was filed in San Mateo Superior court, the company has decided to pay $1,000 to each moderator and also the moderators will be provided more compensation if they will be diagnosed with the deteriorating mental conditions or PTSD.
The settlement is covering almost 11,250 moderators, and the lawyers believed that nearly half of these moderators might be found eligible for extra compensation. Lawyers are considering that half of these content moderators developed mental health disorders, including addiction and depression, while working for the social media giant. Meanwhile, the lawyer of the complainant, Steve Williams, has said in a statement that they are happy with the decision the social media giant has taken for the moderators. Steve said the step to compensate the moderators taken by the company is unprecedented. Such a step to help the people performing their job for the company was quite unimaginable. The harm the moderators are suffering is not only real but also severe, and they need help.
In the year 2018, Selena Scola, who was formerly working on Facebook, sued the social media giant, alleging that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder. She alleged the company that she was engaged in a role where she needed to view the images and photos of murder, suicide, and rape. Such a part developed PTSD in her, and then she filed a case against the company for compensation, which was later joined by several other content moderators. Scola joined her job as content moderators on Facebook during the US presidential elections. The company was facing severe criticism for not removing the harmful and unwanted content from its platform. The social media giant hired a large number of big consulting firms such as Genpact, Cognizant, Accenture, and Prolimited for bringing on several content moderators on contract basis jobs in the USA.
Several content moderators hired by the company have been found working in terrible conditions in Tampa and Phoenix for a meager salary. These moderators have to work in pressure as their job role required accuracy near to perfection, which has caused severe PTSD condition. Meanwhile, Cognizant has decided to leave the business of content moderation after finding so many cases of PTSD among the moderators. The company has agreed to pay $1,000 initially, and $15,00 will be provided to the people diagnosed with some more problems along with PTSD. The people will need to submit the evidence for their mental illness to qualify for the compensation.
The social media giant is also planning to change its policy towards content moderators, which will include providing mental health sessions to the people with professionals weekly. Moreover, it has instructed its vendors for screening the applicants for sound emotional health. Also, the vendors will need to send information regarding the psychological support if any worker needs at the workstation. Moreover, the company has said that it is committed to providing a safe working environment to its worker and grateful for the contribution workers are giving in the growth of the company. Initially, the moderators working in Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas will be covered from the year 2015 to now.
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Source: –https: //geomsoffice.com/blog/facebook-to-pay-52-million-to-its-moderators/
