YouTube Moderators Are Being Forced To Sign PTSD Forms

According to The Verge, content moderators for YouTube are being ordered to sign a document acknowledging that performing the job can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). From the report: "I understand the content I will be reviewing may be disturbing," reads the document, which is titled "Acknowledgement" and was distributed to employees using DocuSign. "It is possible that reviewing such content may impact my mental health, and it could even lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I will take full advantage of the weCare program and seek additional mental health services if needed. I will tell my supervisor/or my HR People Adviser if I believe that the work is negatively affecting my mental health."

The PTSD statement comes at the end of the two-page acknowledgment form, and it is surrounded by a thick black border to signify its importance. It may be the most explicit acknowledgment yet from a content moderation company that the job now being done by tens of thousands of people around the world can come with severe mental health consequences. "The wellbeing of our people is a top priority," an Accenture spokeswoman said in an email. "We regularly update the information we give our people to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the work they do -- and of the industry-leading wellness program and comprehensive support services we provide."

Yup

[flopping little twat]

Watching PewDiePie will do that to you.

Re:Yup

[Strill]

When you join the 9-year-old army...you see some shit.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

I thought nine-year-olds are generally supposed to already have defecation under control?

Re:Yup

[Anonymous Coward]

You make jokes, but my job involved doing technical analysis on the videos of themselves that bad guys put online.
Can you imagine the sort of things that ISIS troops do to captured enemies? Or their underage daughters?
Did you know that while ISIS troops really like knives, the cartels prefer chainsaws? Now imagine all the nasty things that evil people can do with a chainsaw - someone's done it, and put it online.

PTSD from video review is a real thing.

so will the mental health be covers workers comp?

[Joe_Dragon]

so will the mental health be coved by there workers comp?

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

A coved ceiling is a ceiling that has had the visual appearance of the point where the ceiling meets the walls improved by the addition of coving. It can also refer to an arched-dome ceiling, like in a mosque.

Re:

[hey!]

Oh, yes. Google is *so* concerned about the mental welfare of those workers that it is very considerately forcing them to sign a release form absolving Google of any responsibility for the consequences of the job Google wants them to do.

And of course they're *consultants*, not employees. They don't have to punch a clock, work under Google's supervision. They're living the American Dream, starting a business and being their own boss!

Re:

[msauve]

Why should it be covered by worker's (not "workers") compensation? They're being up front about it. Society seems unwilling to accept just "AI" moderation, which means some humans have to do it. So, if anyone bears the burden, it's society in general, and not Google.

BTW, it's also "be covered by", not "be covers" or "be coved." Perhaps you should blame your grade school teacher for that (or more correctly, your parents), since you seem to want to place blame on others.

Re:

[Malays Bowman]

"Society seems unwilling to accept just "AI" moderation,"

AI moderation is shit. I went to the theoldrobots.com website last night, and they had YT clips of various vintage toy robots in action. A couple of the clips I wanted to save on my YT playlist got marked with the dreaded "Youtube Kids" yellow star sleeve patch, so no saving for me. These were not cartoons or content aimed specifically at kids, just >1 minute clips of vintage toys in action, some which were out before I was born 43 years ag

Re:

[Malays Bowman]

I'm thinking this all happened because some precious snowflake got his or her feeewingz hurt and threatened to sue YT claiming emotional trauma and other bullshit damages. I wonder how people like this make it to 25 years of age?

Of course, YT will want to keep all of that hush-hush and prevent more snowflakes from trying to make a money grab^W^Wsue big bad Youtube for exposing them to such horrific evil content, so that's why the form.

Good for them

[fermion]

Many jobs are dangerous. Coal mining, for instance, has high pay just because 10% of the carrier miners are going to die a horrible death, and because of this the US taxpayer is on the hook for billions of dollars. When we all used coal, and it was critical to out economy, the trade off made sense. for the high school graduate, the highest paid jobs are the most dangerous. The construction worker, the transportation work, etc, all these jobs high high death rates, and would be good for all employees to k

Re:

[allaunjsilverfox2]

There is not such thing as unskilled labor. That is a tactic to lower peoples willingness to ask for fair wages. You can't take someone who was trained in operating a cement truck and expect them to be able to drive a barge down a river without training. LITERALLY all jobs require some form of training.

Re:

[r2kordmaa]

Just because burger flipping requires two days of on site training doesn't make burger flippers skilled laborers. There are jobs that require years of education and there are jobs that don't which is the criteria to label someone skilled or unskilled worker.

Re: Good for them

[MrNaz]

Have you ever flipped a burger? It's damn hard! I can code pretty well, but the last time I tried flipping a burger the damn thing went over my shoulder and landed in my coffee.

Re:Good for them

[Frobnicator]

Feeling pedantic, are we?

Unskilled labor does not mean "this requires no skill nor training".

The term skilled labor [wikipedia.org] refers to jobs requiring significant training. Engineering, medicine, accounting, are all skilled labor. The trades, which include fields like licensed plumbers, electricians, stonemasons, and construction workers, all of them have guilds and trade schools and processes to advanced from beginner to master. Sometimes there are divisions, "skilled labor" vs "highly skilled labor" vs "professional labor", but those are up to the people using the terms.

Unskilled labor refers the opposite end of the spectrum, jobs and tasks that require no specific skills and only minimal training. Not "no training", but minimal, and can be done by basically anybody off the street. Cleaning crews, stocking shelves, farm picking, sweepers, newspaper delivery. While people gain speed through experience and practice, nearly any fully-developed human can observe the job and immediately pick up the tasks with little or no supervision. No special skills nor training are required. There may be some legally required training, like being told that the cleaning solution has a materials safety sheet, or training like being told what ratios to mix cleaning solution with water, but even those tasks could be done by a shift leader, handing the unskilled worker a pre-mixed bucket or a spray bottle.

Re:

[Randj Herdle]

Remember: the best example of unskilled labour is parenthood.

Re: Good for them

[spyfrog]

As an example you have piloting a barge, which my guess would require some sort of captain's license - something that is almost the opposite of unskilled labour

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

Question is does the higher pay more than cover the cost of therapy to overcome the PTSD?

Work for an ad company

[AHuxley]

Get to enjoy the "creative" content ads are displayed with.
Welcome to the learn to code economy... coal mine like conditions for your brain.

Technology to mitigate?

[thereitis]

I wonder if technology could help mitigate the PTSD somewhat, through black-and-white filter, thick lines through the video (like watching a horror movie through your fingers), stick-man drawings (like how Kinect can draw a basic human shape) or other creative solutions. That way damaging video may leave less of an impression with the moderator. Audio would need a solution, too.

Re:

[Malays Bowman]

Maybe they should not be allowed to moderate at all? Much simpler than some wacky goggles.

And on that note, society and big corporations really need to tell the cheezy ambulance chasers to fuck off.

Re:

[Malays Bowman]

"(like how Kinect can draw a basic human shape) or other creative solutions. That way damaging video may leave less of an impression with the moderator. Audio would need a solution, too"

  I wanted to add that this will water everything down to the point of being useless for judging content. Might as well replace clips of the Saw movies (example) with bright cartoony unicorns and a twinkly music box soundtrack. :\

Fluidity of the rules

[Malays Bowman]

How very weird! How come this wasn't done 15 or so years ago. So fucking strange! =O

I love rules. Do you know why? Because you can change them on the fly, selectively enforce them on people you don't like, make ones up on the spot (again to use against people you don't like). And as a bonus, you get to feel holier than thou, and like a King, emperor, captain, duke, fuhrer, and commandant.

This is not a YT specific rant, because I see this EVERYWHERE especially IRL. The goalposts and boundar

Makes sense. There is some fucked up shit online.

[twocows]

I've been involved in content moderation -- I've managed forums, IRC channels, game communities, etc. While the severity and volume definitely varies from site to site, this is the internet, and any public website on the internet is going to get some nasty stuff. You of course have trolls looking to post stuff designed to get a reaction, but that's hardly the worst of it, because at least you can just dismiss them as assholes. Far worse is when disturbing stuff is posted in earnest by people who don't care (or worse, don't understand) that it's disturbing, especially when they themselves were responsible.

I think we all kind of know this and try not to think about it, but while the vast majority of people are well-adapted and reasonable, and a smaller minority are somewhat to moderately fucked up, there are legitimately sick individuals out there who do some incredibly horrible things to other humans, stuff that doesn't just make you repulsed but often genuinely cry for the victim(s) and leaves a lasting impression that can stay with you for quite some time. Unfortunately, people like YouTube's content moderators are likely exposed to this sort of thing on a daily basis, considering how popular YouTube is. I can definitely see how someone who is maybe not ready for that kind of thing and hasn't developed ways to cope with the understanding of human nature that it brings could develop some kind of mental trauma.