8 votes

Facebook moderators, working as contractors at Accenture, are being forced to return to the office despite the risk of COVID-19

Posted by spit-evil-olive-tips
Tags: facebook, accenture, moderation, work, coronaviruses.covid19, contractors, employees, safety.workplace, author.ryan mac, author.craig silverman, source.buzzfeed news
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/terrified-facebook-moderators-return-offices

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Title
Facebook Moderators Terrified Of COVID-19 Are Being Forced To Return To The Office Next Week
Word count
981 words

6 comments

  1. spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link
    One of the starkest examples I've seen of how tech companies like FB treat their full-time employees and their contractors differently.

    Facebook has told its full-time employees that they should expect to work from home until July 2021. One full-time employee told BuzzFeed News that they’re not even allowed to go into their office to retrieve their personal belongings.

    One of the starkest examples I've seen of how tech companies like FB treat their full-time employees and their contractors differently.

    4 votes
  2. [5]
    JXM
    Link
    I just don't get this. This is a job that could easily be 100% remote and it wouldn't be an issue. This sounds like a policy issue. Why can't they be reviewed remotely? Okay, I get that the divide...

    The company recently told the Verge, which first reported on the workers’ return, that it was “gradually returning people to client offices in cases where there is a critical business reason to do so.”

    I just don't get this. This is a job that could easily be 100% remote and it wouldn't be an issue.

    “But considering some of the most sensitive content can’t be reviewed from home, we’ve begun allowing reviewers back into some of our sites as government guidance has permitted.”

    This sounds like a policy issue. Why can't they be reviewed remotely?

    In a note explaining why he quit earlier this week, an engineer named Adin Rosenberg wrote that for a company that claimed to be “working on social good,” Facebook had created an “underclass” of workers.

    Okay, I get that the divide between employees and contractors is bad. That's a societal problem that we need to solve. But to claim that Facebook is "working on social good" - that's rich. If you work at Facebook, how do you not know the horrible damage it and other large scale social networks like it are doing to the world?

    3 votes
    1. joplin
      Link Parent
      My understanding is that being a moderator at Facebook is a fairly low-paying job. People in low-paying jobs don't have a lot of leverage and the company knows this. Also, because the job is...

      I just don't get this. This is a job that could easily be 100% remote and it wouldn't be an issue.

      My understanding is that being a moderator at Facebook is a fairly low-paying job. People in low-paying jobs don't have a lot of leverage and the company knows this. Also, because the job is low-paying there are cultural assumptions built in like, "These people can't get real jobs, so they obviously can't be trusted to be working if they don't have someone breathing down their necks and checking on them like schoolchildren." It's a horrible situation for the workers.

      6 votes
    2. [3]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      I am guessing some stuff is so horrific that they’re reluctant to let people even look at it at home. (Consider whoever has the unfortunate job of investigating complaints about snuff videos or...

      I am guessing some stuff is so horrific that they’re reluctant to let people even look at it at home. (Consider whoever has the unfortunate job of investigating complaints about snuff videos or child porn.)

      Also, it’s unfortunate, but companies do have to worry about how much to trust their own employees, and try to minimize the damage that a rogue employee can do. For companies that deal with money like banks, this is obvious, but some kinds of moderation might also be considered a sensitive area, given how much people are concerned about privacy these days and how easily a leak can turn into a news story.

      But again, I don’t really know anything about how it really works, just making some guesses.

      3 votes
      1. kfwyre
        Link Parent
        Just in case you or anyone else is interested, there's a 2018 documentary called The Cleaners about content moderators for major web platforms, including Facebook. It does a good job of...

        Just in case you or anyone else is interested, there's a 2018 documentary called The Cleaners about content moderators for major web platforms, including Facebook. It does a good job of demonstrating what the job is like.

        3 votes
      2. FishFingus
        Link Parent
        I hadn't thought about that. The sort of stuff that moderators of large enough sites might end up seeing is probably exactly the kind of stuff they wouldn't want hanging about on their own...

        I hadn't thought about that. The sort of stuff that moderators of large enough sites might end up seeing is probably exactly the kind of stuff they wouldn't want hanging about on their own computer. Plus, if they're at home alone, they won't have anyone there to give them a hug or talk them back from the edge. :(

        2 votes