California- social media platform TikTok moderator Candie Frazier sue the company over ‘’psychological trauma’’. She said that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of constant exposure to violent and toxic content. Frazier doesn’t work for TikTok directly. She was contracted via another IT company Telus International. The company provides services to multilingual customers with different clients including TikTok. According to Washington Post, the moderator claimed that TikTok did not provide sufficient mental health resources as opposed to exposure. As a result, she suffered from anxiety, depression, and PTSD. According to the post, last week in California, a lawsuit is filed against the company and its parent company Bytedance.

TikTok response to the allegation

In a statement to Washington post, the social media platform said it does not like to comment on the ongoing lawsuit. However, they said, ‘’ we strive to promote a caring work environment for our employees and our contractors.’’ Also added that the company will ‘’continue to expand on a range of wellness services so that moderators feel supported mentally and emotionally.’’ Meanwhile, Telus international said it has strong mental health programs in place. The company also told the Washington Post that its employees could raise a concern through ‘’ several internal channels’’. Ms. Frazier did not use internal channels to solve the issue. And the company said Ms. Frazier’s allegations are ‘’ entirely inconsistent with their policies and practices. Though, Telus international is not the defendant in the case.

Moderator nature of work

As a moderator, Ms. Frazier had to review objectionable videos that includes sexual assaults, violence, suicide, rape, torture, and murder. She was also exposed to conspiracy theorists, distortions of history, and political disinformation during her job. She says, she reviewed videos that featured ‘’ extreme and graphic violence up to 12 hours a day. Although, the company says it has ‘’ a caring environment’’. However, what she does is full of violence and trauma. Furthermore, TikTok has more users and it keeps increasing. In September, the company announced that it has 1 billion people using the app each month. According to an IT security company Cloudflare, it has now more hits than Google.  

Meanwhile, the company uses thousands of in-house and contract-based content moderators. They work continuously to filter out videos and accounts that break the company rules and policies. For example, IT Company Telus International works with TikTok to provide moderators.