Dan SinkerNov 22, 2022

There's A LOT of discussion about content moderation right now and very little of it touches on the fact that we've all lived on the big social sites for the last decade-plus thanks to the massively exploitated labor of mostly-invisible moderation workers. The social web at scale wouldn't have happened without these laborers, who in addition to shit wages, have been exposed to literally every imaginable horror.

If we're remaking this world, let's do better on that front.

Show threadJosh BraunNov 22, 2022
@dansinker Indeed! @ubiquity75 wrote the book on this and is here. Looking forward to her continued insights.
Show threadSarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.Nov 22, 2022
@josh @dansinker Thanks, Josh. Yes, I’ve been studying content moderation _as work_, and the workers who do it, for almost 13 years. Here is my book on the subject. You may wish to check it out. https://yalebooks.yale.edu/9780300261479/behind-the-screen
Behind the Screen

An eye-opening look at the invisible workers who protect us from seeing humanity’s worst on today’s commercial internet   Social media on the internet c...

Yale University Press
Show threadLaPingvino 🟙 Nov 22, 2022
@ubiquity75 @josh @dansinker I just left Teleperformance, a third party who does this kind of moderation work (biggest call center company in the world), and while I did tech support, I used to live with colleagues who did TikTok and Pinterest moderation work.
Show threadSarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.Nov 22, 2022
@lapingvino @josh @dansinker It’s a pretty miserable job. I hope they’re okay.
Show threadLaPingvino 🟙 Nov 22, 2022
@ubiquity75 @josh @dansinker It's in Europe and they only get a segment of everything, with psychological help available etc, so from what I heard they are pretty okay. Worker rights are pretty essential to avoid the biggest misery xD.
Show threadSarah T. Roberts, Ph.D.
@lapingvino @josh @dansinker Indeed. Although not all European moderation jobs have those conditions.
Nov 22, 2022 at 5:04pmWeb
Show threadLaPingvino 🟙 Nov 22, 2022
@ubiquity75 @josh @dansinker I have had the opportunity to compare working conditions between TP and other similar companies around here, also other languages etc, and there are definitely huge differences. Teleperformance is a company that has issues but it is founded on ethical principles. I didn't see anything close to that with other companies around here, and the other companies are cheaper for the clients, so...