Facebook Moderators Seek Better Coronavirus Protections: Live Updates
Facebook announced in August an extension of its coronavirus-protection policy, telling employees to continue working from home until July 2021.
But the safeguard was not extended to all of Facebook’s thousands of contractors who are deployed as content moderators around the world to screen out hate speech, misinformation, sexual harassment, child abuse and other harmful content. Many of the moderators, who work for outsourcing firms like Accenture and CPL, have been called back to the office.
On Wednesday, more than 200 moderators and other Facebook workers sent an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive; Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer; and the top executives at Accenture and CPL, criticizing their treatment of content moderators. Workers in Ireland, Germany, Poland and the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Foxglove, a law firm representing the moderators.
The moderators, who are classified as contractors, said their health was being sacrificed to help Facebook respond to growing pressure from policymakers and regulators around the world who want the company to do more to clean up its platform. Without their contributions, the moderators said, Facebook cannot do the job.
“Without our work, Facebook is unusable,” the letter said. “Your algorithms cannot spot satire. They cannot sift journalism from disinformation. They cannot respond quickly enough to self-harm or child abuse. We can.”
The letter was circulated on Facebook’s internal network called Workplace. About 30 percent of the signatories included their name or contact information, while the rest asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution, said Cori Crider, a lawyer at Foxglove.
In the letter, the workers asked Facebook, Accenture and CPL to maximize work-from-home capabilities, particularly for those who are in a high-risk group for becoming seriously ill from Covid-19 or who live with somebody at high risk. They also called for hazard pay and improved health care and mental health support. As contractors, they are not entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees.
Facebook defended its practices, saying that a majority of its 15,000 content reviewers continue to work from home during the pandemic and that it provides health care and “well-being resources” for workers.
“While we believe in having an open internal dialogue, these discussions need to be honest,” Toby Partlett, a spokesman for Facebook, said in a statement. “Facebook has exceeded health guidance on keeping facilities safe for any in-office work.”
The letter highlights the squeeze Facebook is facing. As workers criticize the company for poor treatment, the company is under pressure to more aggressively screen out harmful material.
The workers called for the company to stop outsourcing the work to companies like Accenture and CPL and to bring the jobs in-house, where the workers would receive better pay and benefits.
“If moderators are so vital to Facebook’s business that it will ask them to risk their lives to work in offices with live Covid cases,” Ms. Crider said, “Facebook ought to employ them and give them the full rights of Facebook employees.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/18/business/us-economy-coronavirus