A pair of former TikTok content reviewers are suing the company, claiming that it failed to adequately support them as they worked to remove objectionable videos from the social network.
The lawsuit was reported by NPR.
Telus International, a Canadian tech firm, and a New York-based company were both used as third-party companies for moderation work for TikTok. Velez and Young are seeking class-action status, which would allow other TikTok content moderators to join the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that TikTok and ByteDance violated California labor laws by failing to provide adequate mental health support for Velez and Young, who were made to engage with on dangerous activities. It also claims that the companies made the moderators sign non-disclosure agreements so they couldn't discuss what they saw, and pushed them to review high volumes of extreme content to hit quota, and then amplified the harm by forcing them to sign.
The lawsuit states that the defendants have failed to provide a safe workplace for the thousands of contractors who are the gatekeepers between the App and the hundreds of millions of people who use it every day. It is alleged that TikTok and ByteDance did not provide appropriate ameliorative measures to help workers cope with the traumatic content after the fact.
The lawsuit describes how the two men spent 12 hours a day reviewing extreme, disturbing content, including child sexual abuse, rape, torture, bestiality, beheadings, suicide, and murder. NPR reports that Candie Frazier's case is no longer moving forward after she filed a similar suit in December.
The legal team that brought the class-action lawsuit against Facebook is behind the new TikTok suit. The company settled that suit two years later with an agreement to pay out $52 million to more than 11,000 people who struggled with mental health as a result of the content they were tasked with sorting through on a daily basis.
Facebook to pay $52 million to content moderators suffering from PTSD
TikTok moderator sues over mental trauma caused by graphic videos
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