INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesFacebook will pay its third-party US content moderators to work from home
On a call with reporters, Facebook's chief Mark Zuckerberg said the contract workers would still get their full salaries even if they were
unable to do all their normal tasks.The company will also increase use of artificial intelligence to moderate content during the coronavirus
crisis.Mr Zuckerberg said its work-from-home policy would last until the "public health response has been sufficient".But one workers'
rights group said Facebook's move did not go far enough."It's great that they are letting them work from home, but it seems like the
bare minimum Facebook could do," said Joe Rivano Barros a campaign manager with the Workers Agency.He noted the contract workers are not
getting bonus payments, unlike those directly employed by the tech firm.Facebook has approximately 15,000 content moderators in the US, who
are hired by third-party contracting companies.They review posts that have been flagged by users or the firm's own software to determine
if the content is inappropriate or harmful.Mr Zuckerberg said that privacy concerns meant that some data could not be shared with the
contractors when they are working away from base, although he did not specify the details.He acknowledged, however, that this could lead to
some content slipping through the cracks that would normally be deleted
He added some decisions about the most sensitive topics - including content involving self-harm and suicide - would be taken over by
Facebook's full-time staff because the infrastructure was not in place to support the mental health repercussions of the contractors
dealing with the posts.He said there might be more of this type of content as a result of people being told to go into self-isolation
because of the pandemic."I am personally quite worried that the isolation from people being at home could potentially lead to to more
depression or mental health issues, and I want to make sure that we are ahead of that supporting our community," he said.Facebook has been
working on algorithms for several years to automatically spot and remove content that violates its policies.However, earlier this week the
limitations of the scheme were highlighted when a large number of legitimate coronavirus posts were wrongly flagged and removed from view -
something the firm blamed on a spam-filter bug.Mr Rivano Barros said the increased use of AI was a worrying signal to contract workers, who
businesses impacted by the outbreak
Additionally the company is giving all its full-time staff a $1,000 bonus to help support them during this time.
