Facebook urges its employees to moderate its content.

follow up Business InsiderSeveral meta-content editing contractors in Austin, Texas, recently received a new notice out of the blue, stating that employees at these companies will no longer receive many rights and will face closer scrutiny. In addition, they received additional demands from Meta to improve their performance, or were fired if they didn’t meet the standards.

That process began in mid-July when employees at Accenture, Meta’s content moderation partner, unexpectedly held an emergency meeting with no explanation or warning. According to a former Accenture employee, they need to meet to discuss new plans or decide to quit.

“Things are a mess,” said a former Accenture employee.

Meta is currently facing several challenges: the economic downturn, the demise of its ad-based business model due to Apple’s changes, and competition from big players like TikTok. Mark Zuckerberg gave such reasons in his financial report for the second quarter of 2022. The company is currently undergoing a restructuring and plans to shut down 10 percent of its operations this year.

Zuckerberg’s company now works with third parties, including Accenture, to moderate content for his social networks like Facebook and Instagram. She has a $500 million annual deal with the company. Accenture’s job will be to scan Facebook and Instagram posts for offensive content such as offensive images, copyrights, etc. and flag the post.

According to a former Accenture employee, the company estimates that as of 2018, about 500 people will be working as meta content moderators. They have lived in the building since 2018. Hiring in Texas and working directly with meta benefits as well as inside the workplace. Platform.

However, lately things haven’t been the same as they used to be. While Meta employees can work entirely remotely, Accenture employees have to come into the office. Beginning around April, the weekend grocery allowances were discontinued, although I still had to go to work on Saturdays and there was no gas consumption.

To that end, the hourly rate for presenters has been increased from $19 to $22 an hour. Still, many say their paychecks have been cut by spending on previously unpaid work.

Accenture workers face more scrutiny despite lower wages. The company uses productivity tracking and work logs. The employee stated that the current working conditions were “more onerous”. For example, if the employee’s computer is idle for more than 8 minutes, they are counted as distractions. The time per person is now not one hour as before, but 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes for rest every day.

Also, another employee who is late will not be accepted. Everyone arrives from 8:30 a.m. If later, they will be evaluated on their performance. If a person is late, they may be transferred or fired.

Meta declined to comment. Accenture officials said the company “does not comment on employees’ personal opinions.”

Meta currently employs third party partners and uses artificial intelligence to demystify content on its platforms. However, the company still relies on humans as the AI ​​system is considered incomplete to replace it.

Many former employees admit that curating content on Facebook and Instagram is a nightmare. Too many images and videos of violence, encouragement of suicide, abuse… psychologically traumatized that haunt them even for years after they quit.

Bao Lam