San Francisco: A group of third-party content moderators at Meta (formerly Facebook) have reportedly threatened to stop working until their salaries are paid in full.
Facebook moderators at an Accenture site in Austin, US, “face a wage disaster that has left a lot of people without their vacation checks,” reports The Verge.
In an open letter to the CEOs of Meta and Accenture, they threatened to stop the work.
“If these problems are not resolved immediately, a work stoppage will be declared,” the message read.
According to Tuesday’s report, some workers have received lump sum payments from the company, but “not everyone has received these payments, and many are in dire financial straits.”
“Some employees have had to take payday loans just to have enough money to buy food for their children,” said an anonymous employee.
Facebook confirmed the disruption and said that Accenture has informed its employees of the issue “and is working to resolve it as soon as possible.”
Accenture said it had seen “no indication of a coordinated work stoppage at the site.”
“We recently changed payroll providers and encountered unforeseen challenges during our first payroll with the new provider,” a company spokesperson told The Verge.
“We continue to encourage our employees who need assistance to contact their supervisor or HR, so that we can help them resolve. “
Facebook hired several companies like Accenture, Cognizant, Genpact, and ProUnlimited to help moderate and remove harmful content in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election and the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
Accenture reportedly employs more than a third of the 15,000 people Meta said it hired to inspect its stations.
Meta had over 30,000 employees working on safety and security, about half of whom are content moderators.
The social media giant agreed in May 2020 to pay $ 52 million to third-party content moderators who developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues as they scanned dozens disturbing images of rape, murder and suicide to curb those on the platform.
In a preliminary settlement in San Mateo Superior Court, the social media giant agreed to pay damages to 11,250 US-based moderators and provide them with further advice, media reported.
