Content Moderators – The Guardians of Public Discourse
An employer is legally required to provide an employee with a safe place of work and a safe system of work. Under the Health and Safety Regulations it is the responsibility of both the company and third party agency.
If you are employed as a content moderator by a corporation with European headquarters based in Ireland, you can access justice through the Irish Courts. For example, Facebook’s approximately 15,000 content moderators are employed through third-party contractors. As a Content Moderator you might be suffering from psychological or mental trauma because of your job, you might have remedy in law. Over the last couple of years there has been significant increase of content moderators being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Content moderators on daily basis are exposed to violent and disturbing content as part of their job requirement. In addition to exposure to extreme content, the content moderators must meet targets to keep their jobs. It has been reported that some content moderator companies are forcing the potential employee to sign non-disclosure agreement admitting that the job might cause PTSD. The employee does not have outlet because he or she is prohibited from disclosing any work-related stress to their superiors. There is remedy available in law for mental suffering. For example, Facebook has agreed to pay a sum of $ 52 million to all existing and former content moderators as a compensation for mental suffering that they have endured.
If any of the described has affected you or you are unsure that you can bring a claim in Ireland, contact our dedicated team and we can advise you of your rights.