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Gruesome and ‘disturbing’ TikTok videos gave content moderator PTSD, lawsuit says

Charlotte Observer - 12/28/2021

Candie Frazier, a content moderator for the popular video app TikTok, accused the company in a Dec. 23 lawsuit of failing to provide a safe work environment for moderators she says are forced to watch hundreds of graphic videos on a weekly basis.

The next day, she was placed on leave and had her work equipment confiscated, her attorney said.

“I’m so upset,” said Steven Williams of Joseph Saveri Law Firm, who is representing Frazier and spoke to McClatchy News over the phone and through email. “The legal process is slow and it’s a shame people can be harmed so quickly and have to wait so long.”

According to the lawsuit filed in the Central District of California, content moderators for TikTok have to watch videos of beheadings, cannibalism, animal cruelty and child sex abuse for 12 hours a day with limited breaks and few resources in place to protect their mental health.

Frazier said the work has given her PTSD, according to the lawsuit, and she’s seeking to represent a proposed class of moderators whose mental health has similarly suffered.

TikTok Inc. and its Chinese parent company ByteDance Inc. are named as defendants in the case.

A spokesperson for TikTok declined to comment on pending litigation in a statement to McClatchy News but said it “strive(s) to promote a caring working environment for our employees and contractors.”

“Our safety team partners with third party firms on the critical work of helping to protect the TikTok platform and community, and we continue to expand on a range of wellness services so that moderators feel supported mentally and emotionally,” the spokesperson said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding allegations Frazier was punished after filing the lawsuit.

Frazier’s lawyer said TikTok “cut her off” on Christmas Eve after sending someone to her home to confiscate the equipment.

Williams said it’s not clear what happened but that Frazier appears to be on some sort of leave. They don’t know if it will be unpaid, he said.

“We believe that this type of retaliation against a whistleblower who is speaking out for the health and safety of TikTok’s content moderators is inappropriate, and call upon TikTok to immediately restore Ms. Frazier to her prior job responsibilities,” Williams said

‘Graphic and objectionable videos’

Frazier works for Telus International, a Canadian company which reportedly contracts with TikTok to provide content moderation services. TikTok relies on other users to report inappropriate content, which then gets sent to a moderator to review.

Those videos range from genocide and mass shootings to COVID-19 conspiracy theories and Holocaust denials, according to the complaint.

Because of the “sheer volume” of potentially inappropriate videos flagged for review, Frazier’s lawyer said in the lawsuit, moderators have just 25 seconds to view a video and are often watching between three and 10 videos at the same time. They’re also reportedly required to have an 80% accuracy rate in distinguishing which content violates TikTok’s policies.

According to the complaint, TikTok and ByteDance use the same software as its moderators to keep track of the time they work and the breaks they take during a 12-hour shift, which include two 15-minute breaks and a one-hour lunch break.

Though TikTok and ByteDance are aware of the nature of the videos its moderators are watching, they “fail to provide safeguards known to mitigate the negative effects of reviewing graphic content,” Frazier’s attorney said. Those safeguards include changing the color or resolution of a video, putting a grid over top, changing the direction, blurring portions of the video or muting the noise.

Moderators also don’t receive any “psychological support,” such as adequate wellness time or counseling, according to the lawsuit.

Frazier’s attorney said there is a high turnover rate for moderators due to low pay, short-term contracts and the “trauma associated with the work.”

Frazier has worked as a moderator since January 2018, during which time she has been “exposed to thousands of graphic and objectionable videos” — including people eating out of a smashed skull, a woman being beheaded by a drug cartel and a man eating the head off a rat, her lawyer said.

She developed “severe psychological trauma” and PTSD as a result, according to the complaint.

“Plaintiff has trouble sleeping and when she does sleep, she has horrific nightmares,” the lawsuit states. “She often lays awake at night trying to go to sleep, replaying videos that she has seen in her mind. She has severe and debilitating panic attacks.”

Similar claims at Facebook, YouTube

Frazier’s attorney filed the lawsuit on behalf of a proposed class of content moderators. They are seeking to create a medical monitoring fund in which TikTok would have to pay for mental health services for its moderators as well as compensatory damages and injunctive relief requiring TikTok implement better safety guidelines.

The lawsuit mirrors similar cases brought by content moderators for Facebook and YouTube in recent years.

In July 2020, a California state judge approved an $85 million settlement with Facebook in a class action lawsuit alleging the social media giant failed to protect content moderators from the same type of psychological injuries induced by “graphic and violent imagery,” Reuters reported.

The settlement included a $52 million fund for mental health treatment and $1,000 payments to individual workers intended for medical diagnostic screenings.

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