6 ms·

>Despite the mental toll of the work, which has left many content moderators suffering from PTSD, their jobs are some of the lowest-paid in the global tech indu

>Despite the mental toll of the work, which has left many content moderators suffering from PTSD, their jobs are some of the lowest-paid in the global tech industry, with some workers earning as little as $1.50 per hour It kind of blows my mind that this it's legal for an American corporation to employ third world slave labor instead of American citizens.

andsoitis 3y ago
> It kind of blows my mind that this it's legal for an American corporation to employ third world slave labor instead of American citizens. What will blow your mind even more is that even when Americans, Europeans, or others in rich countries know about this, do they care? Do they boycott those companies? No they don't... Because they want stuff and they want it cheap.
- thunky 3y ago
  I get your point but sadly I don't think that will blow anyone's mind.
- boringuser2 3y ago
  It's not incumbent on individual citizens to stop corporations. We lack the resources and wherewithal to do so. These companies are doing things that should be made to be illegal.
  - charcircuit 3y ago
    >that should be made to be illegal. Paying a wage that both parties agree to should not be illegal.
    - ClumsyPilot 3y ago
      Nestle and others have frequently admitted to literal slave labour https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/02/nestle-admits-slave-labour-risk-on-brazil-coffee-plantations https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/02/n...
      - charcircuit 3y ago
        That's not literal slave labor. From the article it admits that they don't know the source of some of the beans. Nestle isn't finding slaves to work for them.
        ClumsyPilot 3y ago
        In the age of anynimous shell companies owning half of the assets in the country, you expect Nestle to officially employ slaves? They purposefully setup and intermediary, and use slave labour in full knowledge
        andsoitis 3y ago
        > In the age of anynimous shell companies owning half of the assets in the country, you expect Nestle to officially employ slaves? > They purposefully setup and intermediary, and use slave labour in full knowledge It sounds like you are very convinced that Nestlé knowingly uses slave labor (it sounds a bit conspiratorial if you were to ask me). If you are sure of it, are you avoiding ALL Nestlé products? Otherwise you are enabling such atrocity.
  - mr_toad 3y ago
    That would last precisely one election cycle. The cost of living increases would soon ensure that the majority of consumers voted to reverse the law.
    - vuln 3y ago
      If only we could vote out inflation or The Fed…
- prepend 3y ago
  I don’t care because $1.50 is a good wage in the countries where these workers live. Of course I want cheap stuff, who doesn’t, but I don’t want it to the exclusion of all else. I don’t want to exploit or harm workers to get stuff. In this case, I’m comfortable with the wages paid by these folks, and hope that their employer has some retraining program when moderation is rewritten to use AI and fewer humans.
justsomehnguy 3y ago
Sadly [for American corporations] there is no so cheap slave labor among American citizens.
- Ekaros 3y ago
  Just have to imprison people. Those are free to be used as slave labour per constitution. They could even use AIs to invent crimes and evidence and then get them prosecuted by state money and reap the benefits of slave labour.
yanderekko 3y ago
>slave labor Can we not dilute the definition of "slave labor" here? American consumers would give up their own labor standards before facing the ruinous economic consequences of a world where they could only consume goods made by laborers earning $15/hour with health insurance and OSHA oversight.
- boringuser2 3y ago
  I like how delusional weirdos have taken up the literal arguments made by corporations that endlessly shift blame for their misdeeds on "consumers". If you're allowed to do bad things, you make laws to prevent it.
  - yanderekko 3y ago
    >delusional weirdos More like economically literate weirdos who understand that the reason why people like cheap consumer goods is not because evil corporations have imposed a false consciousness on them that prevents them from realizing true class consciousness and releasing themselves from their chains. Any jurisdiction can try to ban goods that are created through low-wage labor, or more generally labor that does not adhere to the regulatory regime of that jurisdiction. It basically never happens in the western world except for the most extreme cases (eg. actual slave labor) for obvious reasons, and when it does it almost always reflects a shameful form of protectionism.
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  > the ruinous economic consequences of a world where they could only consume goods made by laborers earning $15/hour with health insurance and OSHA oversight Was economy of 1950's USA ruinous? US did not import manifactured goods from China / almost anywhere at the time. The rest of the world manufacturing was a bomb crater after WW2. Western manufacturing isn't uncompetitive because of OSHA and health insurance. There are third world countries that have health insurance. Western manufacturing is uncompetitive because of insane inflation of real estate has parasitic effect on the rest of the economy. You cant pay a worker less than he has to pay his ladlord
aikinai 3y ago
I just Googled wages in Kenya and $1.50 is higher than all of the basic jobs even up through machinists, drivers, and other medium-skilled positions.
carabiner 3y ago
It's legal here too via prisons, though our prisoners get paid much less: $0.25 per hour.
0xB31B1B 3y ago
This is not slave labor. These people are paid above median wages for their locale. This allows them to have decent homes, transport, food, water etc. These people would rather have these jobs then not, it is an engagement by choice.
jpollock 3y ago
https://take-profit.org/en/statistics/minimum-wages/kenya/ https://take-profit.org/en/statistics/minimum-wages/kenya/ 2018 Living Wage Individual - 209.281 USD/Month Wages High Skilled - 567.779 USD/Month $1.50 * 40 * 4 = USD$240. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34426566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34426566

andsoitis 3y ago

> It kind of blows my mind that this it's legal for an American corporation to employ third world slave labor instead of American citizens. What will blow your mind even more is that even when Americans, Europeans, or others in rich countries know about this, do they care? Do they boycott those companies? No they don't... Because they want stuff and they want it cheap.

thunky 3y ago
I get your point but sadly I don't think that will blow anyone's mind.
boringuser2 3y ago
It's not incumbent on individual citizens to stop corporations. We lack the resources and wherewithal to do so. These companies are doing things that should be made to be illegal.
- charcircuit 3y ago
  >that should be made to be illegal. Paying a wage that both parties agree to should not be illegal.
  - ClumsyPilot 3y ago
    Nestle and others have frequently admitted to literal slave labour https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/02/nestle-admits-slave-labour-risk-on-brazil-coffee-plantations https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/mar/02/n...
    - charcircuit 3y ago
      That's not literal slave labor. From the article it admits that they don't know the source of some of the beans. Nestle isn't finding slaves to work for them.
      - ClumsyPilot 3y ago
        In the age of anynimous shell companies owning half of the assets in the country, you expect Nestle to officially employ slaves? They purposefully setup and intermediary, and use slave labour in full knowledge
        andsoitis 3y ago
        > In the age of anynimous shell companies owning half of the assets in the country, you expect Nestle to officially employ slaves? > They purposefully setup and intermediary, and use slave labour in full knowledge It sounds like you are very convinced that Nestlé knowingly uses slave labor (it sounds a bit conspiratorial if you were to ask me). If you are sure of it, are you avoiding ALL Nestlé products? Otherwise you are enabling such atrocity.
- mr_toad 3y ago
  That would last precisely one election cycle. The cost of living increases would soon ensure that the majority of consumers voted to reverse the law.
  - vuln 3y ago
    If only we could vote out inflation or The Fed…
prepend 3y ago
I don’t care because $1.50 is a good wage in the countries where these workers live. Of course I want cheap stuff, who doesn’t, but I don’t want it to the exclusion of all else. I don’t want to exploit or harm workers to get stuff. In this case, I’m comfortable with the wages paid by these folks, and hope that their employer has some retraining program when moderation is rewritten to use AI and fewer humans.

justsomehnguy 3y ago

Sadly [for American corporations] there is no so cheap slave labor among American citizens.

Ekaros 3y ago
Just have to imprison people. Those are free to be used as slave labour per constitution. They could even use AIs to invent crimes and evidence and then get them prosecuted by state money and reap the benefits of slave labour.

yanderekko 3y ago

>slave labor Can we not dilute the definition of "slave labor" here? American consumers would give up their own labor standards before facing the ruinous economic consequences of a world where they could only consume goods made by laborers earning $15/hour with health insurance and OSHA oversight.

boringuser2 3y ago
I like how delusional weirdos have taken up the literal arguments made by corporations that endlessly shift blame for their misdeeds on "consumers". If you're allowed to do bad things, you make laws to prevent it.
- yanderekko 3y ago
  >delusional weirdos More like economically literate weirdos who understand that the reason why people like cheap consumer goods is not because evil corporations have imposed a false consciousness on them that prevents them from realizing true class consciousness and releasing themselves from their chains. Any jurisdiction can try to ban goods that are created through low-wage labor, or more generally labor that does not adhere to the regulatory regime of that jurisdiction. It basically never happens in the western world except for the most extreme cases (eg. actual slave labor) for obvious reasons, and when it does it almost always reflects a shameful form of protectionism.
ClumsyPilot 3y ago
> the ruinous economic consequences of a world where they could only consume goods made by laborers earning $15/hour with health insurance and OSHA oversight Was economy of 1950's USA ruinous? US did not import manifactured goods from China / almost anywhere at the time. The rest of the world manufacturing was a bomb crater after WW2. Western manufacturing isn't uncompetitive because of OSHA and health insurance. There are third world countries that have health insurance. Western manufacturing is uncompetitive because of insane inflation of real estate has parasitic effect on the rest of the economy. You cant pay a worker less than he has to pay his ladlord

aikinai 3y ago

I just Googled wages in Kenya and $1.50 is higher than all of the basic jobs even up through machinists, drivers, and other medium-skilled positions.

carabiner 3y ago

It's legal here too via prisons, though our prisoners get paid much less: $0.25 per hour.

0xB31B1B 3y ago

This is not slave labor. These people are paid above median wages for their locale. This allows them to have decent homes, transport, food, water etc. These people would rather have these jobs then not, it is an engagement by choice.

jpollock 3y ago

https://take-profit.org/en/statistics/minimum-wages/kenya/ https://take-profit.org/en/statistics/minimum-wages/kenya/ 2018 Living Wage Individual - 209.281 USD/Month Wages High Skilled - 567.779 USD/Month $1.50 * 40 * 4 = USD$240. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34426566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34426566