YouTube limits moderators to viewing four hours of disturbing content per day

YouTube limits moderators to viewing four hours of disturbing content per day

6 years ago
Anonymous $gIi3-PxxKB

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/13/17117554/youtube-content-moderators-limit-four-hours-sxsw

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said today that the video platform has started limiting the number of hours its part-time content moderators can view disturbing videos to four hours per day. The news, announced during a Q&A session during Wojcicki’s South by Southwest Interactive talk here in Austin, comes as companies like YouTube are struggling to parse through the sheer volume of user-uploaded content and ensure it abides by its policies. Platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter have faced criticism for subjecting low-paid contractors to content that can be extremely disturbing.

“This is a real issue and I myself have spent a lot of time looking at this content over the past year. It is really hard,” Wojcicki said about content moderation. Recent solutions the company has landed on include both limiting the hours per day contractors perform this work and providing what Wojcicki referred to as “wellness benefits.”