Silence of the moderators

What are the most significant psychological impacts on Facebook commercial content moderators?

One of the most significant psychological impacts on Facebook commercial content moderators is the fact that they are required to internalize the fear, disgust, and trauma that they experience. In his article “The Civic Labor of Moderators Online”, Matias J. Nathan writes that content moderators are an essential part of the business models of social media platforms but are often treated as if they do not exist. He also discusses content moderation as an “oligarchy”, stating that the power of individual moderators is overshadowed by those that manage them (Nathan, M.J., 2010, p. 4). This setup allows for content moderators to become nearly invisible to the companies that they labor for, damaging their mental health even more because they are essentially powerless.

An article for the Washington Post describes the confidentiality agreements that content moderators must sign, meaning they cannot even confide in their friends or families about the traumatic things they have seen (Dwoskin, E., et al., 2019, para. 8). Not being able to release their thoughts and emotions makes these people even more vulnerable to ill psychological deficits. Additionally, understanding that they are essentially powerless in the digital hierarchy is damaging in and of itself.

Finally, Matias states that content moderators are facing hate from social media users because of their decisions about what to delete and what not to delete (Nathan, M.J. 2010, p. 11). The work they do is not fully understood by the public and is underappreciated by big companies, furthering their negative state of mind.

Sources:

Nathan, M. J. (2019). The civic labor of volunteer moderators online. Social Media + Society, 5(2) doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2056305119836778

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