I’ve never had a Facebook account (I did have a Myspace account in the mid-2000s) and I don’t really care about Facebook or Meta. I really don’t understand why so many Americans are addicted to uploading (to Facebook) all of their personal information, family photographs, intimate details of their lives and what they’re doing throughout the day and so on. Why not just stop using Facebook (especially if you claim to be opposed to Facebook and their practices / policies)? It’s all very strange in my opinion.
In any event, accounts being banning at Facebook is (and has been for a while) a common occurrence based on what I’ve heard from family, friends and in posts I’ve read from elsewhere throughout the interwebs.
Who are these content moderators who decide what is and isn’t allowed in your Facebook account? Apparently (and I’m not surprised) content moderator positions are mostly (or all) outsourced to workers in countries where the pay is remarkably low (equivalent of $1 US dollar per hour, for example).
From what I read Facebook has a huge content moderation operation in Kenya (in Nairobi, for example). The way it works (this is how it works EVERYWHERE in the world, including in the Ukraine which handles a lot of English language content) is Facebook pays outsourcing companies in Kenya to hire content moderators. The content moderators are either paid a set salary per month (regardless of hours) which might be $200 – $300 (for example) or they could be paid by the hour as many of them are in Kenya (it appears that the going rate in Kenya is $1.50 per hour).
Content moderators in Kenya are now suing Facebook and Meta over working conditions (including irregular pay, inadequate (or none at all) health care and violations of their privacy and dignity).
It all sounds familiar. I’ve visited countries in Africa and the Caribbean and have seen similar sweatshops (some do have air conditioning) for the tech world (mostly for the jobs which don’t require much skill, for example customer service and now “content moderation”) and regardless of how they might look (some look clean and modern while others are dirty, hot and packed near elbow to elbow with workers) their purpose is to save US companies a lot of money (A LOT of money) in wages paid and to circumvent health care related laws (saves $$$) and to avoid funding employee retirement (saves $$$).
I tried to hunt down a digital copy of the lawsuit(s) filed in Kenya (content moderators vs Facebook and Meta) but wasn’t able to find anything (note though that “Mercy Mutemi” is the lawyer (or at least one of the lawyers if there’s more than one) who is representing the content moderator(s)).
The following articles cover the referenced lawsuit:
Content moderator in Kenya sues Meta over working conditions
Reuters
by Ayenat Mersie
May 10, 2022
Link: reuters.com/technology/content-moderator-kenya-sues-meta-over-working-conditions-2022-05-10/
Meta being sued by ex-Facebook content moderator
BBC News
by (name not provided)
May 12, 2022
Link: bbc.com/news/technology-61409556
This following article is related too but is from before the lawsuit was filed:
Inside Facebook’s African Sweatshop
Time
by Billy Perrigo
February 17, 2022
Link: time.com/6147458/facebook-africa-content-moderation-employee-treatment/
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