In a recent open letter, a group of Facebook moderators alleges that the company is putting their health and their families at risk by forcing them to return to work during the coronavirus pandemic. The employees believe they are being called back into the office because Facebook’s AI technology is “years away” from working properly.
Engadget reports that a group of Facebook moderators published an open letter this week that claims that the social media giant is putting them and their families at risk by demanding that they return to work during the coronavirus pandemic. The content reviewers allege that while workers with a doctor’s note can be excused from returning to the office, those with high-risk family members are still being told to return to work.
The letter states: “In several offices, multiple COVID cases have occurred on the floor. Workers have asked Facebook leadership, and the leadership of your outsourcing firms like Accenture and CPL, to take urgent steps to protect us and value our work. You refused. We are publishing this letter because we are left with no choice.”
The employees state that the reason Facebook is forcing them to return to work is that Facebook’s AI-based moderation tools are “years away,” from working effectively. The open letter states:
Without informing the public, Facebook undertook a massive live experiment in heavily automated content moderation. Management told moderators that we should no longer see certain varieties of toxic content coming up in the review tool from which we work— such as graphic violence or child abuse, for example.
The AI wasn’t up to the job. Important speech got swept into the maw of the Facebook filter—and risky content, like self-harm, stayed up.
The lesson is clear. Facebook’s algorithms are years away from achieving the necessary level of sophistication to moderate content automatically. They may never get there.
The letter also mentions a number of other issues unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic that many have with Facebook, including lack of mental healthcare for moderators as well as their status as contractors rather than full-time Facebook employees. The employees are demanding hazard pay, more flexibility to work from home, and access to better mental healthcare.
A Facebook spokesperson commented on the open letter stating: “We appreciate the valuable work content reviewers do and we prioritize their health and safety. While we believe in having an open internal dialogue, these discussions need to be honest. The majority of these 15,000 global content reviewers have been working from home and will continue to do so for the duration of the pandemic. All of them have access to health care and confidential wellbeing resources from their first day of employment, and Facebook has exceeded health guidance on keeping facilities safe for any in-office work.”
Read the open letter from Facebook content moderators here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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