A former YouTube content moderator sued the platform Monday for failing to protect her mental health after she was forced to watch graphic and disturbing videos.
The lawsuit filed on Monday claims a former moderator was required to watch horrifying content like murders, child pornography, animal mutilation, and suicides as part of her job from 2018 to 2019. The plaintiff, referred to as “Jane Doe,” has since suffered from panic attacks, nightmares, and the inability to be in crowded areas after working as a moderator, the lawsuit claims.
According to the lawsuit, YouTube allegedly did not follow through in providing workplace safety standards like counseling and training moderators to recognize signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“During the training process, YouTube failed to train content moderators on how to assess their own reaction to the images, and YouTube failed to ease cntent moderators into review of graphic content through controlled exposure with a seasoned team member followed by counseling sessions,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit is looking to compensate other content moderators exposed to graphic content, ensure that YouTube provides tools and mandatory ongoing mental health support to moderators, as well as mental health screening and treatment to both current and former content moderators.
Digital Trends reached out to YouTube to comment on the lawsuit. We will update this story when we hear back.
Former Facebook content moderators have also spoken out about the horrors they saw while on the job and how it affected their mental health. In May, the social network agreed to pay its content moderator employees $52 million as part of a settlement over a lawsuit filed by workers who suffered mental health issues due to their jobs.
As part of the settlement, Facebook also agreed to make changes to its content moderation tools, including muting audio and making videos black-and-white.
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