Content Moderation Is Terrible by Design

Social media companies couldn’t exist in their current form without content moderation. But while these jobs are essential, they’re often low-paid, emotionally taxing, and extremely stressful — they require exposure to horrific violence, disturbing sexual content, and generally the worst of what we see (or don’t see) online. Do they have to be? Sarah T. Roberts, faculty director of the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and associate professor of gender studies, information studies, and labor studies at UCLA, details the evolution of this work, from patchwork approaches to in-house moderators and contractors to the current prevailing model, where generalist contractors work in call center–like offices. There are steps companies could take to improve this work, including providing better technology for moderators as well as better pay and more psychological support. But improvement, at present, is more likely to come from worker organizing and collective demand for better conditions than from the firms that employ the workers or the companies that need the moderation.