In 2020, Facebook paid out $52 million to fund mental health treatment for some of its American content moderators following a lawsuit centred on mental ill health stemming from their work.
According to a TIME investigation, Facebook content moderators in Kenya have revealed how their workplace culture is characterized by low pay, mental trauma, intimidation and the suppression of the right to unionize. These content moderators are employed by Sama, an outsourcing company that contracts labour for some of the largest companies in the world, including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Walmart.
Some of the current and former Sama employees who speak at least 11 different African languages detailed how working as outsourced Facebook content moderators entailed watching videos...
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