TikTok moderatos say they suffer from PTSD
TikTok may not have quite the same reputation for hosting controversial content as some of its other social media counterparts, however, its relatively squeaky clean exterior is still made possible by human reviewers acting as digital custodians. The video sharing platform is known for its uniquely powerful AI recommendation algorithm, but it’s the low-paid human workers monitoring the platform that ensure it actually remains usable for most viewers.
One of those former content moderators filled a lawsuit against the company in 2021 claiming videos wretched on the job led them and other workers to develop post traumatic stress disorder. In the lawsuit, the former moderators’ workers could spend up to 12 hours per day viewing content. The sheer volume of video uploaded to the platform means reviewers allegedly only have around 25 seconds to view each piece of content. In some cases, workers would have it iview three to ten videos simultaneously to keep up their pace.
