As per a recent explosive report published by The Verge, the reviewers who have the responsibility to filter Facebook’s most disturbing and jarring content, are paid only a mere fraction of the median salary of the company. The content moderator for the social media giant is a U.S.-based company called Cognizant. The firm serves as a third-party contractor for reviewing Facebook’s content.
According to this report, Cognizant earns just $15 per hour, which roughly translates to $28,000 per year. As for the managers employed at the sites for content moderation, they each earn $16 per hour. In contrast, when it comes to Facebook employees, the median figure of annual salaries for them back in 2017 amounted to a whopping $240,000.
The report has shed brand new light upon the physical and emotional toll of being employed in the main defense line appointed against Facebook’s abusive content. Ironically, the firm has always cited examples regarding its increasing workforce as well as security efforts. As per the report provided by The Verge, the content moderators have to oversee articles, videos, pictures and the likes related to conspiracy theories, killings and porn.
Speaking on behalf of the company, a Facebook spokesperson stated that they value the efforts put in by each content reviewer and also have several standards regarding their support and well-being. Further, the company aims to work only with highly accredited global partners having when it comes to their workforce, thereby jointly enforcing such standards via touch points regularly, so as to ensure a supportive and safe work environment, with appropriate resources in place.
Additionally, Facebook released a blog post on Monday, where it admitted to knowledge of the fact that there will always be instances of hardship or employee dissatisfaction which will question their commitment. Usually, there is a well-drafter nondisclosure agreement in place to protect the information that is discussed by current as well as formerly employed content moderators, who hold discussions under pseudonyms.
