CEO regrets her firm took on Facebook moderation work after staff ‘traumatised’

merridew@feddit.uk to Technology@lemmy.world – 168 points –
CEO regrets her firm took on Facebook moderation work after staff ‘traumatised’
theguardian.com
8

CEO regrets her firm was sued...not the fact that she traumatized roughly 300 people clockwork orange style.

Talk of burying the lede. Guardian spun the story to make the CEO seem empathetic.

Wow - this quote is about as close to having no regrets as you can get and still saying you'd choose differently.

Do I regret it?’ Well, I would probably put it this way. If I knew what I know now, which included all of the opportunity, energy it would take away from the core business I would have not entered [the agreement]

She basically said the money she was paid didn't improve her bottom line enough for the work involved. That's pretty darned far from "regret".

…alleging he had been exposed to graphic and traumatic content at work without adequate prior knowledge or proper psychosocial support.

This is what gets to me. Before reading the article, I was like “well, you knew what you were getting into, so…”

NOPE.

The internet can be an absolute sewer. Throwing unsuspecting people into that sewer, and then not giving them all the help they need, is just plain cruel. Imagine being happy that you finally landed a job, and then having to deal with that with no warning. It’s a crime against humanity.

I’ve got a buddy who did content moderation about a decade and a half ago. He’s told me that some of the shit he saw in the course of his work back then still fucks him up to this day. Like, truly heinous, soul-crushing stuff. And no, I’m not going to elaborate - the little he did share with me was deeply alarming, and I’m sure it’s nowhere even close to the worst he had to deal with.