“Disturbing Images”: A Beleaguered Content Moderator Sues YouTube

The same lawyer who won a $52 million settlement earlier this year for a Facebook employee is representing a woman who did similar content moderation work for YouTube. The job of content moderation involves looking at a screen for hours at a time in an effort to identify and flag material that should be deemed too horrific to be allowed on the platform. The complaint, in a proposed class action filed in California state court, lays out disturbing examples of the kind of material that the plaintiff alleges have given her nightmares, kept her up at night, and made her think twice about having children. The lawsuit alleges that YouTube failed to comply with employee safety and health standards that the company itself had established.