We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. Facebook is giving a pay raise to employees saddled with some of the toughest work in the tech industry: content moderation. On Monday, the company said it plans on raising the minimum wage for content reviewers based in US metro areas from $15 per hour to between $18 to $22, depending on where the employee is exactly located. It's been no secret that content moderation can be a soul-crushing job. For years, journalists have been documenting how the work can involve viewing terrorist-sponsored beheadings, child pornography and dick pics —all in an effort to keep social media platforms such as Facebook free of the most disturbing online content. However, the duties can also take a psychological toll on the employee. Last September, one ex-content reviewer filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the work gave her PTSD. Other contract workers have been urging Facebook and their employer, Accenture, to improve their working conditions by offering better counseling services and affordable health insurance, according to The Washington Post. Facebook said it's well aware of the challenges. So in addition to the pay raise, the company is requiring its contractors to provide on-site counseling during all hours of operations, not just during certain periods of the day. Content moderators will also have the option to water down the disturbing content that comes their way. "For the first time, we're adding preferences that let reviewers customize how they view certain content. For example, they can now choose to temporarily blur graphic images by default before reviewing them," the company said. Today's pay raise announcement is part of a new policy to ensure all Facebook contract workers earn a living wage in the most expensive US cities including San Francisco, New York City, Washington DC and Seattle. "It's become clear that $15 per hour doesn't meet the cost of living in some of the places where we operate," Facebook executives said in an online post. Facebook's contract workers based in these cities will eventually earn at least $18 to $20. But for workers who specialize in content moderation, the company decided to raise the minimum wage even more, explaining: "their work is critical to keeping our community safe, and it's often difficult." Unfortunately, the pay raise may not be immediate. Facebook said the changes will arrive by mid-next year. But it plans on developing similar standards for contract workers based in other countries. Although Facebook has been trying to use AI-powered algorithms to detect and take down some of the disturbing content, the company still relies on a team of 30,000 employees to help it manage security and safety over the platform. In March, the AI systems failed to detect live video of a mass shooting in New Zealand, which managed to briefly circulate on Facebook before the company was able to take it down.
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We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. Facebook is giving a pay raise to employees saddled with some of the toughest work in the tech industry: content moderation. On Monday, the company said it plans on raising the minimum wage for content reviewers based in US metro areas from $15 per hour to between $18 to $22, depending on where the employee is exactly located. It's been no secret that content moderation can be a soul-crushing job. For years, journalists have been documenting how the work can involve viewing terrorist-sponsored beheadings, child pornography and dick pics —all in an effort to keep social media platforms such as Facebook free of the most disturbing online content. However, the duties can also take a psychological toll on the employee. Last September, one ex-content reviewer filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the work gave her PTSD. Other contract workers have been urging Facebook and their employer, Accenture, to improve their working conditions by offering better counseling services and affordable health insurance, according to The Washington Post. Facebook said it's well aware of the challenges. So in addition to the pay raise, the company is requiring its contractors to provide on-site counseling during all hours of operations, not just during certain periods of the day. Content moderators will also have the option to water down the disturbing content that comes their way. "For the first time, we're adding preferences that let reviewers customize how they view certain content. For example, they can now choose to temporarily blur graphic images by default before reviewing them," the company said. Today's pay raise announcement is part of a new policy to ensure all Facebook contract workers earn a living wage in the most expensive US cities including San Francisco, New York City, Washington DC and Seattle. "It's become clear that $15 per hour doesn't meet the cost of living in some of the places where we operate," Facebook executives said in an online post. Facebook's contract workers based in these cities will eventually earn at least $18 to $20. But for workers who specialize in content moderation, the company decided to raise the minimum wage even more, explaining: "their work is critical to keeping our community safe, and it's often difficult." Unfortunately, the pay raise may not be immediate. Facebook said the changes will arrive by mid-next year. But it plans on developing similar standards for contract workers based in other countries. Although Facebook has been trying to use AI-powered algorithms to detect and take down some of the disturbing content, the company still relies on a team of 30,000 employees to help it manage security and safety over the platform. In March, the AI systems failed to detect live video of a mass shooting in New Zealand, which managed to briefly circulate on Facebook before the company was able to take it down.