Former TikTok moderator has sued the company. She claimed that watching hours of TikTok videos with rapes, animal cruelty and mass killing caused her severe psychological trauma.
Candie Frazier worked for Telus International as a third party contracting company. She was responsible for moderating TikTok videos uploaded by users to make sure they were in compliance with community guidelines.
According to her, she saw videos with ‘thousands’ of graphic and extreme violence. This led to depression and anxiety and eventually PTSD.
According to her, she is now suffering from severe and debilitating panic attacks as well as recurring nightmares. This could be due to seeing the graphic content during her job.
Frazier alleges that TikTok did not meet industry-recognized standards to protect her mental health, and she has now filed a class-action lawsuit in the California Central District Court against TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
TikTok’s moderator has sued the company, alleging that she watched videos which contained mass murder, cruelty to animals, and rape.
The Verge reports that the suit alleges that TikTok’s partners and it failed to comply with industry standards to reduce the harmful effects of content moderation.
“These safeguards include providing moderators with more frequent breaks and psychological support. They also provide technical safeguards such as blurring or decreasing the resolution of video under review.
Frazier claimed that Frazier was allowed only one 15-minute rest in her first four hour shift. She was not permitted to have additional breaks for 15 minutes every two hours thereafter.
Frazier says that TikTok “heavily penalizes anyone who takes away their time from viewing graphic videos.”
She claims she has difficulty sleeping and is often awake during the night replaying video clips. That she sees in her mind.
Frazier claims they didn’t do enough to safeguard her mental health and filed a lawsuit against TikTok, ByteDance, as a class-action suit
Hilary McQuaide, TikTok’s spokesperson, responded to this outlet with a statement.
She stated that while we don’t comment on litigation ongoing, she tries to foster a supportive working environment for employees and contractors.
“Our Safety team collaborates with third-party firms to provide critical protection for the TikTok community. And we are expanding on our wellness services, so moderators can feel emotionally supported and mentally healthy.”
Facebook was sued in 2018 by third-party contractors. They claimed the company had failed to protect them against harmful content including child sexual abuse material.
In May 2020, they reached a class-action lawsuit settlement, and the social media platform agreed to pay moderators who were part of the suit $1,000 each.
In addition, the New York Post reported that workers who were ‘diagnosed with conditions stemming from their job duties’ got up to an additional $50,000 in damages. Facebook covered all of their medical expenses.