Meta has been sued by a group of Kenyan content moderators who say they were forced to review murder, bestiality and child sexual abuse material on a daily basis on behalf of the tech giant.
The moderators worked 8 to 10 hours a day at outsourcing company Samasource Kenya, which was contracted by Meta to review content on Facebook.
In the lawsuit, over 180 employees testify about slave-like conditions. They describe how they worked under bright lights, constantly fed with content to review, while their work routines were closely monitored, The Guardian reports.
Employees testify that they were forced to watch up to 1,500 movie clips per day and had only 50 seconds to review each clip. If they exceeded the time limit, they risked being rejected by their employer. The content they reviewed was described as gross and included murder, necrophilia, rape, bestiality and child sexual abuse. Several moderators reportedly fainted, vomited or ran away from their desks because of the traumatizing material.
More than 140 employees at the company were reportedly diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and depression, according to Dr. Ian Kanyanya, head of mental health services at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, who worked on the case.
“A dangerous job”
Around 40 of these people have reportedly developed alcohol and drug addictions. Some have broken up their marriages, partly because of a loss of desire for sexual intimacy. Others have lost contact with their families after reviewing content from terrorist groups, making them fearful of being targeted.
Employees were reportedly paid eight times less than content moderators in the US.
– The evidence is indisputable: moderating Facebook is dangerous work that inflicts lifelong PTSD on almost everyone who moderates it, said Martha Dark, founder and executive director of Foxglove, a UK-based non-profit organization that has supported the court case.
Meta has decided to end its partnership with the Kenyan company but has chosen not to comment on the court case.