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YouTube and Facebook Asks Moderators To Sign PTSD Consent Forms

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YouTube and Facebook are asking content moderators to sign forms stating that they understand that the job could cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to reports.

 

The Financial Times and The Verge report that moderators for Facebook and YouTube, hired by the contractor Accenture, also received the documents. Moderating often involves viewing hundreds of disturbing images every day.

 

In a statement, Accenture said only new joiners are being asked to sign the forms, existing employees were being sent the form as an update. The company furthermore said that the wellbeing of workers was a “top priority”.

 

Facebook YouTube moderators
The social media companies will now require its moderators to sign a consent form. Photo: Videoblocks.

 

“We regularly update the information we give our people to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the work they do,” Accenture also said in the statement.

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Accenture is a professional service company whose contractors work as monitors on social media sites to remove any inappropriate content. The job requires watching and listening to disturbing posts that can be violent and also s****l in nature. The company has a clientele including Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

Moderators have experienced an increase in mental health and PTSD issues

“I understand the content I will be reviewing may be disturbing. It is possible that reviewing such content may impact my mental health, and it could even lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” the forms read.

 

The forms were also sent to Accenture employees in Europe and the United States.

 

Facebook also faces lawsuits from former content moderators over mental health issues relating to the job in California and Ireland.

 

Facebook and YouTube say they didn’t review the new form sent by Accenture. However, the company requires its partners to offer psychological support for content moderators.

 

Content moderators have been experiencing an increase in PTSD and mental health cases. In 2019, The Verge published a revealing report on the lives of Facebook Moderators. One moderator in the report also said he “sleeps with a gun by his side” after doing the job.

 

One can only imagine what these set of employees go through.

 

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