Report: Facebook Pays ‘Army’ of Filipinos to Police ‘Offensive’ Material

Facebook reportedly pays an army of Filipino content curators to police content on the social network’s platform.

The Daily Mail reports that Facebook has been hiring young Filipinos to act as content curators on the Facebook platform. The workers reportedly work grueling shifts for little pay and decide on whether or not content on Facebook should be removed or allowed.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stated earlier this month that the social media company, worth $435 billion, would be adding another 3,000 content moderators to the team of 4,500 it already employs and pledged to “improve the process for [reporting content] quickly.” It was discovered during an investigation by the Mail on Sunday that Facebook outsources much of its content policing to the professional services firm Accenture.

“We hire college graduates, experienced hires, provide intensive training and pay competitive wages,” Accenture claimed. When asked for comment, Facebook said, “We’ve built a global network of operations centres to work 24/7 so that we have people in the right country with the right language and cultural skills to review reports. We recognise this work can be difficult, which is why our contracts with partners stipulate that wellness and psychological support must be provided.”

Facebook assured their users that a review of Accenture’s hiring and business practices would be performed, stating, “We will be reviewing the services provided by Accenture to ensure they meet our standards.”