Around the world, billions of people use Facebook to catch up with friends and relatives and keep up with current trends
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2022 2:28 pm
Around the world, billions of people use Facebook to catch upwith friends and relatives and keep up with current trends. To helpmake sure that material posted to Facebook is consistent with itsstandards, Facebook uses thousands of content moderators around theworld to monitor what is posted and remove content that violatesthose standards.
Most of these content moderators are not Facebook employees,however. Instead, Facebook outsources this work to third partycompanies. One of these companies is called Sama, a US-basedcompany that employs hundreds of workers from throughout Africa ina branch office in Kenya. While the average American contentmoderator for Facebook makes approximately $18 per hour, theaverage Sama employee makes only $1.50 per hour. Moreover, theywork a 45-hour week, and they receive very little in the way ofbenefits (Perrigo, 2022).
The job of a content moderator is very difficult. For anine-hour shift, content moderators are exposed to extremelydisturbing content, including rape, child abuse, and suicide. Oneworker described it as a form of torture. Workers have reportedsymptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ASama employee in Kenya who tried to organize the workers to bargainfor better pay and more humane working conditions was fired, thusstopping the unionization efforts (Perrigo, 2022)
In its defense, leaders of Sama have argued that worker pay forits content moderators is in line with local market conditions.Further, they contend that the reason the employee in question wasfired was not due to unionization efforts, but because of poorperformance on the job. Facebook itself periodically sends its ownemployees to visit with content moderators in Kenya and elsewhereto supervise the operations, but Sama has reportedly told itsemployees not to discuss pay or working conditions with theFacebook representatives, and workers routinely sign non-disclosureagreements (NDAs) that prohibit them from discussing their workwith the media (Perrigo, 2022).
From Facebook's perspective, the outsourcing of contentmoderation is both practical and cost-saving. The workers in Kenyaare fluent in numerous languages, allowing them to review contentposted from throughout Africa. In addition, since these workers arenot Facebook employees, the company is not legally responsible fortheir low pay and scant benefits.
But since our class is concerned not just with legalresponsibility, but ethical responsibility, and since Facebook is atechnology company, and our focus is on ethical issues intechnology, we can further consider the question of Facebook'sresponsibility to contract workers who help protect users fromencountering disturbing content. In your initial response, considerthe following questions:
Most of these content moderators are not Facebook employees,however. Instead, Facebook outsources this work to third partycompanies. One of these companies is called Sama, a US-basedcompany that employs hundreds of workers from throughout Africa ina branch office in Kenya. While the average American contentmoderator for Facebook makes approximately $18 per hour, theaverage Sama employee makes only $1.50 per hour. Moreover, theywork a 45-hour week, and they receive very little in the way ofbenefits (Perrigo, 2022).
The job of a content moderator is very difficult. For anine-hour shift, content moderators are exposed to extremelydisturbing content, including rape, child abuse, and suicide. Oneworker described it as a form of torture. Workers have reportedsymptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ASama employee in Kenya who tried to organize the workers to bargainfor better pay and more humane working conditions was fired, thusstopping the unionization efforts (Perrigo, 2022)
In its defense, leaders of Sama have argued that worker pay forits content moderators is in line with local market conditions.Further, they contend that the reason the employee in question wasfired was not due to unionization efforts, but because of poorperformance on the job. Facebook itself periodically sends its ownemployees to visit with content moderators in Kenya and elsewhereto supervise the operations, but Sama has reportedly told itsemployees not to discuss pay or working conditions with theFacebook representatives, and workers routinely sign non-disclosureagreements (NDAs) that prohibit them from discussing their workwith the media (Perrigo, 2022).
From Facebook's perspective, the outsourcing of contentmoderation is both practical and cost-saving. The workers in Kenyaare fluent in numerous languages, allowing them to review contentposted from throughout Africa. In addition, since these workers arenot Facebook employees, the company is not legally responsible fortheir low pay and scant benefits.
But since our class is concerned not just with legalresponsibility, but ethical responsibility, and since Facebook is atechnology company, and our focus is on ethical issues intechnology, we can further consider the question of Facebook'sresponsibility to contract workers who help protect users fromencountering disturbing content. In your initial response, considerthe following questions: