Meta’s Spanish language moderators describe harrowing tale of working amid pandemic

It is no secret that Meta employs third-party contractors to manage much of its content moderation bulk load. Reports in the past have detailed the harrowing working conditions of the company’s third-party workers including in India. Now, a new report sheds light on the working condition of the company’s Spanish language moderators in the US.

According to a report by BuzzFeed, Genpact, which has been previously accused of fostering poor working conditions for its Meta contractors in India, has also been accused of fostering poor working conditions at its office in Richardson, Texas. Meta’s Spanish-language moderators working at Genpact’s Richardson office told the publication that they have been required to report to the office since April 2021 despite the rising number of Delta and Omicron cases in the country. One contractor described the entire experience ‘nothing short of a nightmare’.

Contrary to that, moderators reviewing English-language content have been allowed to cycle through the office in three-month rotation. The Spanish language contractors also told the publication that unlike their English language counterparts, they are held to “unrealistic performance standards” and that they are not compensated for working in two languages.

The report says that despite being deployed for Meta’s Mexican market, this team reviews content by Spanish users posted on Facebook and Instagram across most of Latin America. For reference, there were 94 million Facebook users in Mexico in 2018 and millions more on WhatsApp. Furthermore, the report says that despite working in two languages, moderators are expected to maintain an 85% accuracy rate and a 66-second handle time, which is the time frame for making decisions on a post. The moderators said that while these standards might be “sensible for one language, navigating dual languages can take more time.”

What adds to their ordeal is the fact that Facebook’s guidelines are published only in English. This means that the moderators have to translate Facebook’s guidelines into Spanish before using them, which adds to overall time taken by them.

Responding to the matter, a meta spokesperson told the publication that it uses a combination of technology and people to remove the content that violates its guidelines. The spokesperson also said that while AI has made progress, but people are the most important aspect of the company’s safety efforts. “We know these jobs can be difficult, which is why we work closely with our partners to constantly evaluate how to best support these teams,” the spokesperson added.

The post Meta’s Spanish language moderators describe harrowing tale of working amid pandemic appeared first on BGR India.

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