Moderating content for Facebook is traumatic. That’s not an opinion — it’s a fact.
Thousands of people spend their work days deciding whether posts violate Facebook’s content policies. And a growing number have spoken to the media about the terrible toll of seeing countless images and videos depicting violence, sex abuse, child pornography, and torture. In March 2018, one moderator in Tampa, Florida, actually died right at his desk.
That man, Keith Utley, was employed by a firm called Cognizant, which reportedlysigned a two-year, $200 million contract with Facebook to keep the platform free of objectionable content — and, in a huge blow to Facebook’s moderation strategy, it just announced it’ll cut ties with the social media company when that contract runs out.
“We have determined that certain content work in our digital operations practice is not in line with our strategic vision for the company, and we intend to exit this work over time,” Cognizant told BBC News. “This work is largely focused on determining whether certain content violates client standards — and can involve objectionable materials.”
“In the meantime, we will honor our existing obligations to the small number of clients affected and will transition, over time, as those commitments begin to wind down,” the firm later added. “In some cases, that may happen over 2020, but some contracts may take longer.”
