By Ethan Baron
https://www.mercurynews.com/author/ethan-baron/
The lawsuit against Facebook by three “content moderators” didn’t mince words.
“Every day, Facebook users post millions of videos, images, and live streamed broadcasts of child sexual abuse, rape, torture, bestiality, beheadings, suicide, and murder,” said the suit filed in San Mateo County Superior Court against the Menlo Park social media titan. “To maintain a sanitized platform, maximize its already vast profits, and cultivate its public image, Facebook relies on people … to view those posts and remove any that violate the corporation’s terms of use.”
Originally filed by one moderator, a San Francisco woman, in 2018, the suit was joined by two others last year: a Contra Costa County woman and a San Francisco County man. They claimed the job of trying to keep Facebook’s platform free of horrendous and illegal imagery caused psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs announced Tuesday that they had reached a settlement with Facebook. The company, which reported an $18.5 billion profit last year, will pay $52 million to more than 10,000 content moderators who worked as Facebook contractors in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, and it will enact sweeping changes in its moderation practices in the U.S., according to the settlement agreement.
Facebook, in agreeing to the settlement, admitted no wrongdoing.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/13/facebook-to-pay-52-million-to-thousands-of-contractors-who-reviewed-horrific-content/