I am surprised after reading a lot of comments here (not all), that I have not seen any discussion of Cognizant and their role. I am no fan of Facebook and I believe that they have significant responsibility here, but the contractor is, imo, the party directly responsible.
These people do not work for Facebook, and we don't know the nature of the contract in play. Are they paying per person, or a lump sum for some capacity at some accuracy rate. If Cognizant automated all of this would it be accepted under the contract?
Anyways, I don't want to shift focus away from Facebook so much as wanting to recognize the contracted call mpanies like Cognizant (which is what the whole article is about btw, with some comments referring to Facebook). Accenture and Cognizant really shouldn't escape the scrutiny just for being overshadowed by a bigger name.
Facebook is the entity creating this work, and is the root of the problem (by contracting a 3rd party to perform work that they very well understand the consequences of). The article is suggesting that Facebook should be held accountable for the detriment (trauma) that their work is causing. I think the article even argues that the contractors aren't equipped to deal with a problem of this magnitude/seriousness. Facebook is in the best position to rectify their moral accounts, but we all know that's not going to happen because they are evil and so forth.
It's true that Cognizant has direct power to change things, but ultimately, the buck stops with Facebook, since they seem to be the vast majority of Cognizant's work and thus essentially have direct control of the purse strings. FB has the ability to change how Cognizant treats its workforce, and it's Facebook's choice to take a stand or to wash its hands of it. FB also has indirect say in demanding a certain standard ("98% accuracy target") for a given amount of money ($200M) -- though obviously if FB were to simply pay Cognizant more for the contract, there's no guarantee Cognizant would use that money for better worker pay/benefits (as opposed to giving bigger bonuses to executives, for example).
In the article, one of the contractors says that Cognizant puts up a "dog-and-pony show" whenever FB executives visit. Again, it's ultimately up to FB to decide how much they want to push past the facade.
The assumption is that Facebook is selecting the contracting agencies based on performance or cost. If Cognizant's performance doesn't meet the Facebook's standards they will get dropped, the same thing will happen Cognizant isn't competitive on price.
This downward pressure ends up directly impacting moderators. Cognizant needs to keep payroll costs low so they don't lose the contract, and the contracted accuracy target of 98% seems unrealistic. So moderators end up fearing for their jobs when they don't meet accuracy targets.
Cognizant should be banned from the h-1 program for these type of employee abuses. If they were threatened with something like that, they would actually listen since thats how they make money. There should be some principle like "if we believe you are a scummy employer, you can be banned from being granted h-1 visas".
These people do not work for Facebook, and we don't know the nature of the contract in play. Are they paying per person, or a lump sum for some capacity at some accuracy rate. If Cognizant automated all of this would it be accepted under the contract?
Anyways, I don't want to shift focus away from Facebook so much as wanting to recognize the contracted call mpanies like Cognizant (which is what the whole article is about btw, with some comments referring to Facebook). Accenture and Cognizant really shouldn't escape the scrutiny just for being overshadowed by a bigger name.