Accenture employees doing content moderation work for Facebook and YouTube in Europe and the US, have been asked to sign a form, that clearly states that their job may lead to them experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
Keeping the well being of its employees as a ‘top priority’, Accenture believes it is necessary for all its employees to clearly understand the nature of the work they have signed up for through regular updates. Therefore, it has got the document signed by its content moderators who work for Facebook in Warsaw, Lisbon and Dublin, and also the ones working for YouTube’s content moderation unit in Austin, Texas.
Links to the acknowledgement forms were mailed to each of the content moderators with a request to sign immediately.
The form clearly states that the content moderators may have to review videos that could be “disturbing” and that in trying to moderate such content, their mental health may be affected; and that this could lead to even PTSD in some cases.
The number of content moderators with PTSD and mental health problems has been increasing of late. Some of them continue to experience symptoms of PTSD even after they leave the job. Investigations into the matter had revealed last year that one such content moderator had taken to sleeping with a gun next to him. The sad part is that once they quit, they have no access to any help or counselling when it comes to handling their mental health issues.
Many of these content moderators are immigrants on low salaries.
