Facebook has pledged to work on improving its audit and compliance processes for Cognizant and other third-party contractors following an exposé that raised questions on the tech giant's method of handling contractual providers.
On Monday, The Verge released a detailed account of working conditions at a Cognizant facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The exposé revealed that some employees under the Facebook contractor experienced trauma while moderating hateful and violent content.
Aside from suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders and being drawn at some point to the conspiratorial beliefs in posts they had to moderate, contractors were reportedly forced to abide by managed breaks and benchmarks that result to workers burning out. Cognizant reportedly allows for only nine minutes of "wellness time" per day. In those nine minutes, workers are allowed to step away from their computer screens.
The median salary of full-time Facebook workers is estimated at around $240,000 while contractors at Cognizant make an annual amount of only $28,800. Moderators are reportedly paid $15 per hour.
In response to the rising criticism and scrutiny, Facebook's Vice President of Global Operations, Justin Osofsky said in a message to employees, "We are putting in place rigorous and regular compliance and audit process for all of our outsourced partners to ensure they are complying with the contracts and care we expect." The message has also been published on the social media giant's official website.
Facebook managers said they feel that contract labor is the only way at this point to moderate and remove user-uploaded content that does not meet the social media platform's standards. Until the company is able to run an AI-based system for moderation, contractual labor may be the way forward.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg's Sarah Frier said in a tweet that Facebook's decision to capitalize on contractual workers for content moderation may have a deeper root. Frier said part of the process may be due to the potential lawsuits that full-time employees will lodge against the company should they experience emotional and psychological trauma while on the job.
Facebook has yet to provide more details about its plans for contractual workers. On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg's company said it is considering a "partner summit" to be held in April that seeks to raise awareness on the psychological effects of content moderation.
Furthermore, the Instagram owner said it will integrate new communication policies to improve internal exchange with work sites that are being managed by its partners including Cognizant and other third-party contractors.
