Facebook Moderator Claim Taken Against Social Media Giant

In Dublin, an individual who previously worked as a social media moderator for Facebook has submitted a compensation laim in relation to psychological injuries he believes claims he suffered due to his work duties.

Chris Gray alleges that this work included looking at ‘extremely disturbing, graphic and violent content’ and that he suffered psychological injuries due to the “very disturbing” photographs and videos, including executions, lethal beatings, stonings, whippings, the abuse of children, animal torture and extreme sexual content”

Earlier today Mr Gray (53) submitted his legal action to the High Court against the Irish subsidiary of Facebook and the company that contracted him, CPL solutions.

CPL is just one of many content moderator supplying agencies that Facebook uses around the world. This moderator network is estimated to incorporate 15,000 moderators. These moderators are tasked with examining all content published on the platform and to remove what is deemed inappropriate graphic content – with a 98% accuracy rating.

Mr Gray said that he is a victim of a “slow creep” whereby his “personal and political views were becoming increasingly influenced by the insidious content he was required to view.” He went on to say that he has trouble sleeping due to bad dreams caused by the content that he viewed. He said that, due to the tough work targets he has been set, he regularly wakes during the night “with a fright, concerned not by the content, but by whether or not he had marked it correctly during his shift”.

According to Mr Gray there is a complete lack of support and sufficient training to help moderators deal with “what seemed like a relentless flow of extreme and graphic material”. This led to his mood was being affected in a negative way and he felt that he superiors were not open to discussing this in a calm and professional manner.