2 Former TikTok Moderators File Lawsuit Against the Platform Over Psychological Impacts From Watching 'Gruesome' Content

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 25 March 2022, 04:03 am

Two former TikTok content moderators alleged the video-viewing platform for its failure to provide substantial support for them.

According to the lawsuit, a pair of plaintiffs have filed a complaint against TikTok and ByteDance because of the psychological trauma that they got from viewing a series of disturbing videos.

New TikTok Moderator Lawsuit

2 Former TikTok Moderators File Lawsuit Against the Platform Over Psychological Impacts From Watching 'Gruesome' Content

(Photo : Solen Feyissa from Unsplash)
TikTok is currently facing a new lawsuit filed by its two former moderators.

According to an initial report from NPR, the content reviewers have officially filed a lawsuit in federal court against TikTok over the psychological trauma that they acquired from their job on Thursday, March 24.

The complainants named Reece Young and Ashley Velez used to watch videos as part of their moderation work on the video-sharing platform. They adopted the contract from the company through Atrium and Telus International.

In line with the recently-submitted lawsuit, the involved highlighted that TikTok did not provide sufficient "mental health support" despite the dangerous nature of their work daily.

Regarding their work, they were instructed to review a myriad of "extreme" and "disturbing" videos and posts every day. They have to hit their daily quotas as part of their assignments, per TechCrunch.

Another worse part, in this case, is that Velez and Young were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). In this context, they should not disclose the details and the other information about their tasks to everyone.

"Defendants have failed to provide a safe workplace for the thousands of contractors who are the gatekeepers between the unfiltered, disgusting, and offensive content uploaded to the App and the hundreds of millions of people who use the App every day," the lawsuit reads.

No Adequate Mental Health Support

With that being said, TikTok and ByteDance did not offer any kind of assistance in order to mitigate the psychological impact that the victims got from watching "gruesome" clips on the platform.

For a particular take on the content, the lawsuit also discussed that the moderators should work for a 12-hour schedule, per Engadget. They should review obnoxious content that people would normally avoid watching such as rape, sexual abuse, and torture to name a few.

Few Breaks In-Between Shift

Of course, this is not the first time that a former moderator sued the platform because of the same reason. Back in December 2021, Tech Times reported that Candie Frazier filed a lawsuit concerning a similar issue.

According to Frazier, she was assigned to do her tasks with few breaks. Specifically, she only had two 15-minute rests and a one-hour lunch break for the entirety of her shift.

She also mentioned that ByteDance was strictly monitoring them properly during their work hours. Frazier added that it's not the only startling fact about the company. She said that it failed to adopt its current technical guidelines such as reducing the video resolution and more.

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Written by Joseph Henry