United States: Facebook reaches agreement to settle class action from content moderators who develop mental health problems as a result of their work

On 13 May The Verge was the first media to report Facebook’s agreement to pay $52 million to content moderators, employed by directly and by third-party service providers who monitor and delete videos and images that contravene the platform’s terms of use, and many of which are extremely disturbing. According to the agreement reached and presented by the plaintiffs’ lawyers (here), although still awaiting the courts validation, each moderator is set to receive a minimum of $1,000 and will be eligible for additional compensation in cases of diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, or other diagnosed related disorders. The settlement covers more than 10,000 current and former content moderators, and lawyers for the case estimate that up to half of them may be eligible for the additional compensation element as a result of having developed mental health problems (depression, addiction, social anxiety, etc.). Facebook has also committed to setting up a program to better support these workers. This class action originated with three content moderators who had denounced Facebook for not guaranteeing a safe workplace.