TikTok is the home of viral cooking hacks and dance videos, but it's also the latest social media company with a content moderation problem.
A class action lawsuit was filed against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, on Thursday by Candie Frazier, who works as a contracted content moderator. She claims that she developed anxiety, depression, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of the high number of hours she worked in which she would watch a stream of videos containing animal abuse, torture, suicides, child abuse, murder, beheadings, and other graphic content. Videos discussed conspiracy theories, holocaust denial, political misinformation, and other destabilizing content.
The lawsuit claims that TikTok did not follow industry standard protocols to protect content moderators' mental health when they were subject to this type of work. TikTok was part of a coalition that created best practices for protecting employees from child sexual abuse imagery. TikTok hasn't implemented many of the guidelines, including limiting how much time moderators are exposed to troubling videos, checking workers' mental health histories, and providing mental health check-ins, according to the lawsuit.
TikTok has not responded to a request for comment.
If the class action lawsuit is allowed to move forward, Frazier wants TikTok and ByteDance to pay for a medical monitoring program to help with ongoing screening, diagnosis, and adequate treatment.
Candie Frazier vs. ByteDanc.
TikTok requires that they watch multiple 25-second clips of videos in rapid succession. The lawsuit claims that TikTok uses a computer program to make sure that its moderators stay on task. If they don't keep to the tight schedule, they may get their pay docked.
Content moderators are suffering from psychological trauma. In 2020, Facebook settled a similar class action lawsuit for $52 million.
