Facebook moderators are in revolt over 'Big Brother'-style working conditions
- Some of Facebook's content moderators are in revolt over new 'Big Brother'-style rules.
- In an open letter to Facebook employees, moderators from Austin, Texas complained about draconian working conditions that are eroding trust in the company.
- The letter highlights the gulf in working conditions between Facebook's well-compensated, full-time employees and its legions of contractor content moderators.
- Workers are unable to use their phones, leave the property during breaks, have visitors, or talk to family members about their work, the letter says.
- Business Insider is republishing the letter in full below.
Facebook content moderators have complained about draconian rules at one of Facebook's contractor's facilities - sparking outrage from Facebook employees over the "inhumane" conditions.
At a facility run by Accenture in Austin, Texas, moderators responsible for helping keep the social network clear of graphic violence, hate speech, and images of child abuse have had onerous new restrictions placed on them, they say - creating a "Big Brother environment" that is eroding their "sense of humanity" and damaging trust between them and the company.
These rules include being unable to leave the property during breaks; being banned from freely using their phones, even in emergencies; and restrictions being placed on when they can take "wellness" breaks; in addition to being unable to speak to family members about their work, according to an open letter from the contract workers that was shared on Facebook's internal forum Workplace and seen by Business Insider.
"Despite our pride in our work, Content Moderators have a secondary status in th hierarchy of the workplace ... This secondary status is reinforced by directives that strictly manage our personal movements, and are in direct opposition to Facebook's stated values. We feel it is necessary to shed light on the polices that are negatively impacting our persona autonomy," the post says.
"We hope by publishing this letter internally, we can restore our sense of humanity and dignity in the workplace."
The complaint starkly illustrates the gulf in working conditions that exists at Facebook across its workforce. Its full-time employees are legendarily well-treated, with a median company salary of more than $240,000 and a lavish array of perks - from bike repair and arcade games to egg-freezing. But the company also utilizes legions of contractors through outsourcing firms, who don't qualify as Facebook employees or receive the same benefits, and are often tasked with the brutal and thankless tasks that keep the social network running safely.
The second-class nature of some Facebook employees is particularly striking when it comes to the content moderators that top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have trumpeted as being critical assets in the company's efforts to keep the site a safe and popular online destination.
For the legions of content moderators employed by Facebook, as well as other social networks, the complaint offers an unfiltered window into what the Wall Street Journal once described as "the worst job in technology," a role that entails non-stop viewing and deleting of disturbing, often gory, videos and photos uploaded by users.
A Facebook spokesperson could not immediately comment. Accenture did not respond to a request for comment.
The 'big brother environment' is eroding worker trust
The letter lists a host of grievances from the moderators, who are technically employed as "contingent" workers, at the Austin facility. Many of the grievances revolve around break periods.
Moderators are no longer allowed to leave the property during legally mandated breaks or during their"Wellness" breaks - additional break time given to workers in which they can they can take downtime or speak to company-provided "Wellness Coaches."
"CMs are not allowed to enjoy a simple walk around the block on which the building is located," the letter reads.
Workers are also now forced to use their break periods if they need to communicate with someone who isn't currently in their office, rather than being able to do it during regular working time: "Asking employees to go into their break time to resolve even minor issues takes away from the principal function of break time. This is especially acute for people who work on teams that deal with graphic and disturbing content, folks who need their break time to be exactly that."
Additional rules have also been placed on when exactly in the day breaks can be taken.
Another area of concern is around workers' phones.
Moderators have been told they will no longer be able to use their phones freely in the office apart from during lunch and break periods, and cannot book rooms to take calls, "even when the room is empty and the phone call is a family emergency." And the new rule will be strictly enforced: "Accenture staff informed CMs that Accenture Operations will be surveying the floor on an hourly basis to enforce this new directive. "
This comes on top of an NDA agreement that forbids workers from talking to family members about their work, and rules against bringing guests to the office, even family. (Regular Facebook employees in other offices are free to invite guests to visit.)
"We take pride in our work within Community Operations, and we take pride in protecting our client's platform from bad actors. But that pride shrinks as this enforcement erodes the trust between the workforce and management. It is difficult to perform in an environment that is marked by an unreasonable increase in monitoring from the top down," the letter says.
"Furthermore, enforcing such restriction ignores that workers are people. One cannot reasonably expect workers to not only sign an NDA that forbids us from venting to our loved ones about our work day, but also insulate ourselves from the outside world and its circumstances for 90 percent of the day.
"The Content Moderator teams within Community Operations are diverse; composed of people of all walks of life, our team members have varying familial obligations and needs. The Big Brother environment created by this change makes it difficult for people to quickly resolve matters that need immediate yet short term attention out of fear that they may be reprimanded by peers and managers alike."
It's not clear if the same rules also apply to other content moderation offices run by Accenture.
'This is inhumane'
Big tech companies often use contract workers to cheaply and quickly expand their workforce for specific projects, but the second-class status of these workers has become an increasingly hot-button issue in Silicon Valley in recent years. The Guardian reported in December 2018 how Facebook contract workers pushing for better conditions were given an ultimatum to accept an offer or lose their jobs on the eve of Christmas (after the report was published, Facebook backed down). And Google has also faced scrutiny over its treatment of its contract, vendor, and temporary workers (also known as TVCs).
Some Facebook employees appeared shocked and horrified that content moderators associated with the social network were apparently being treated in such a way.
"Content Moderators are the people literally holding this platform together. They are ones keeping the platform safe. They are the people Zuck keeps mentioning publicly when we talk about hiring thousands of people to protect the platform. This is incredibly disappointing," a product design engineer wrote on Facebook's internal Workplace chat room.
"I worry this is trending towards how Amazon treats warehouse workers (many of whom are actually contingent)," a product manager replied.
A software engineer wrote: "This is inhumane."
"This makes me feel so friggin bad," added a project manager.
Facebook has told employees it is looking into the matter. Global operations exec John DeVine replied to the post, saying: "I want to thank you for this post and just acknowledge we are looking into this situation. We work closely with Accenture on our relationship with our employees, about whom we care very much. Their resiliency and well being is in the greatest interest of Facebook and our community."
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Here's the full memo:
This is a message from contingent workers (CWs) in Community Operations. Our work involves Content Moderation (CM). We are employed by Accenture Flex, which is in turn operated by Accenture. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, every one of us has signed a non-disclosure agreement that forbids telling even the people closest to us what we do for work.This NDA also forbids us from bringing guests to work, regardless of the guest's relationship to the employee (eg no one is allowed to bring their child to Café Aztlán for an afternoon visit) and the nature of the visit. Community Operations CWs are expected to maintain a 98% accuracy score in their work of making decisions that affect the overall health of the community on the client's platform, and work across three shifts (Day, Swing, and Overnight). We take great pride in our work for the client.
Recently, Accenture has placed restrictions of how CMs must use our breaks and Wellness*. The restrictions placed on Wellness include that Wellness must not be taken within the first or last hour of the shift, and CMs are forbidden from leaving the property while on wellness or legally mandated break time. CMs are now allowed to enjoy a simple walk around the block on which the building is located. CMs are only allowed to leave the building during their unpaid 30-minute lunch.
Additionally, Accenture Community Operations management announced that CMs at ATX 1601 are unable to use their phones unless they are on break or lunch, which are monitored through both SRT and an Accenture internal system. Accenture staff informed CMs that Accenture Operations will be surveying the floor on an hourly basis to enforce this new directive. This announcement comes with the caveat that CWs may use their phones in "common areas," which have been defined as the micro kitchen and the security desk lobby; Accenture communicated that couches or chains near meeting rooms are not common areas. We are not allowed to book rooms for phone conversations, even when the room is empty and the phone call is a family emergency.
The imperative to achieve and exceed high metrics, combined with the fast-paced decision making and tight turnaround time expected, and the disturbing nature of the automatic work deliver CMs are exposed to can cause even the most strong-minded a person to step away and take time for self-care. This is especially common for teams that deal with sensitive content such as Graphic Violence.
While the restrictions were conveyed, the reasoning for this sudden clampdown was not communicated to CMs. We take pride in our work within Community Operations, and we take pride in protecting our client's platform from bad actors. But that pride shrinks as this enforcement erodes the trust between the workforce and management. It is difficult to perform in an environment that is marked by an unreasonable increase in monitoring from the top down.
Furthermore, enforcing such restriction ignores that workers are people. One cannot reasonably expect workers to not only sign an NDA that forbids us from venting to our loved ones about our work day, but also insulate ourselves from the outside world and its circumstances for 90 percent of the day.
The Content Moderator teams within Community Operations are diverse; composed of people of all walks of life, our team members have varying familial obligations and needs. The Big Brother environment created by this change makes it difficult for people to quickly resolve matters that need immediate yet short term attention out of fear that they may be reprimanded by peers and managed alike.
Lastly, it is taxing to communicate needs that need to be dealt with during regular operating hours, given that the majority of CMs generally work similar hours when compared to most businesses (8:00am - 4:30pm). For example, if a person needs to quickly communicate with anyone not currently in their office, they would have to go into their break time to do so, instead of being able to communicate from their desk and continue working. Asking employees to go into their break time to resolve even minor issues takes away from the principal function of break time. This is especially acute for people who work on teams that deal with graphic and disturbing content, folks who need their break time to be exactly that.
Despite our pride in our work, Content Moderators have a secondary status in th hierarchy of the workplace, both within the Facebook and the Accenture structure. This secondary status is reinforced by directives that strictly manage our personal movements, and are in direct opposition to Facebook's stated values. We feel it is necessary to shed light on the polices that are negatively impacting our persona autonomy. We hope by publishing this letter internally, we can restore our sense of humanity and dignity in the workplace.
* What is "Wellness"? The CMs work across a plethora of projects that expose moderators to written and visual content such as Revenge Porn, Inappropriate Interactions with Children (IIC), Hate Speech, Child Exploitation Imagery, Election Integrity, and Graphic Violence. Wellness allows moderators to disconnect from their work as needed, and meet with Wellness Coaches that are staffed by Accenture. Wellness time allotted varies from project to project: typically each team member is given 45 minutes of Wellness per week. CMs who work within Safety (comprising of CEI and Inappropriate Interactions with Children) are given two hours each shift.