The Psychologically Taxing Work of Content Moderators

Rachael Myrow

Jan 13, 2023 at

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(Shannon Fagan via Getty Images)

Former content moderators for Reddit and TikTok filed class action lawsuits against the sites last month alleging they suffered trauma from the graphic and violent content they reviewed. Content moderators review everything from innocuous misreports to horrifying videos of abuse — and experts say that vacillating between the two can create an anxiety of its own. We’ll talk about what content moderators face both domestically and abroad, why the work can’t be automated and the moral questions raised by the industry’s current structure.

Related article:

Behind TikTok’s boom: A legion of traumatized, $10-a-day content moderators

Guests:

Sarah T. Roberts, faculty director, UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry; author, "Behind the Screen: Content Moderation in the Shadows of Social Media"

Niamh McIntyre, reporter on the Big Tech team, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

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