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My understanding is that there are certain legal requirements associated with content moderators who may have to review illegal content, especially around child

My understanding is that there are certain legal requirements associated with content moderators who may have to review illegal content, especially around child abuse / sexual imagery. This is what I've been told in the past by friends in other companies working on content moderation -- I don't have any specific evidence for or against it, but it passes the smell test. The whole thing in the article about Facebook suddenly trying to automate this part of the content moderation job seems to also point in that direction. > Management told moderators that we should no longer see certain varieties of toxic content coming up in the review tool from which we work— such as graphic violence or child abuse, for example.

deleted 6y ago
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sleepybrett 6y ago
If they are forced to be in the office then the office should be as covid safe as possible. I imagine these content moderators work in something akin to a facebookized phone bank 'pit'. Given that no other facebook employees are being forced to work in their expansive offices perhaps the content moderators, if they are required to work on site for security purposes, should be given the run of the empty space. That way they can easily social distance appropriately.
- bilbo0s 6y ago
  Lots of space to do the work does seem like the most reasonable, and obvious, solution to the problem.
bilbo0s 6y ago
The thing is, what if something slips through? My principle concern would be, no matter the employment relationship, you can't contract away criminal liability. (At least, not in the US.) So here you opened something while working from home, that maybe your state's child sex trafficking task force was tracking. It could just get messy. I'm not sure I would even want to do that kind of work from home.
- conductr 6y ago
  Isn’t being on a company laptop and VPN enough to equate you being “at work”? In healthcare, totally different but highly regulated, we can let people work from home with HIPAA protected info by securing the way they work and access the info.
  - hunter2_ 6y ago
    Not an expert, but I can imagine that a VPN and company laptop doesn't matter in the least when it comes down to Facebook sending certain material to employees, a legal battle coming of it, and the transmission occurring within vs. across state lines. There must be some solution though, like requiring that the VPN connection originate from an address considered to be in the same state.
    - CaptainZapp 6y ago
      Given that some US states are so fucking crazy to brand a 15 year old, who sends a sext of herself as a kiddie pornographer and a sex offender for life you may be on to something here. It seems ridiculous, but very possible. That doesn't excuse Facebook's despicable treatment of their contractors who have to wade through that filth.
alkonaut 6y ago
Then they have a problem (legal, economical, practical). They shouldn't make that problem their employees' problem though. Solutions include stopping moderation, or suspending operations partially or completely. For example, if they prevented image sending/posting for a few months, their moderation workload would likely be lower.

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sleepybrett 6y ago

If they are forced to be in the office then the office should be as covid safe as possible. I imagine these content moderators work in something akin to a facebookized phone bank 'pit'. Given that no other facebook employees are being forced to work in their expansive offices perhaps the content moderators, if they are required to work on site for security purposes, should be given the run of the empty space. That way they can easily social distance appropriately.

bilbo0s 6y ago
Lots of space to do the work does seem like the most reasonable, and obvious, solution to the problem.

bilbo0s 6y ago

The thing is, what if something slips through? My principle concern would be, no matter the employment relationship, you can't contract away criminal liability. (At least, not in the US.) So here you opened something while working from home, that maybe your state's child sex trafficking task force was tracking. It could just get messy. I'm not sure I would even want to do that kind of work from home.

conductr 6y ago
Isn’t being on a company laptop and VPN enough to equate you being “at work”? In healthcare, totally different but highly regulated, we can let people work from home with HIPAA protected info by securing the way they work and access the info.
- hunter2_ 6y ago
  Not an expert, but I can imagine that a VPN and company laptop doesn't matter in the least when it comes down to Facebook sending certain material to employees, a legal battle coming of it, and the transmission occurring within vs. across state lines. There must be some solution though, like requiring that the VPN connection originate from an address considered to be in the same state.
  - CaptainZapp 6y ago
    Given that some US states are so fucking crazy to brand a 15 year old, who sends a sext of herself as a kiddie pornographer and a sex offender for life you may be on to something here. It seems ridiculous, but very possible. That doesn't excuse Facebook's despicable treatment of their contractors who have to wade through that filth.

alkonaut 6y ago

Then they have a problem (legal, economical, practical). They shouldn't make that problem their employees' problem though. Solutions include stopping moderation, or suspending operations partially or completely. For example, if they prevented image sending/posting for a few months, their moderation workload would likely be lower.