Over 140 content moderators employed by a Meta contractor in Kenya have been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and major depressive disorder (MDD), according to a report by The Guardian.
The moderators, who worked eight- to 10-hour shifts reviewing graphic social media content, were exposed to disturbing material including murders, suicides, child sexual abuse, and terrorism.
The diagnoses were made by Dr. Ian Kanyanya, head of mental health services at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. This development comes as part of a lawsuit against Meta and Samasource Kenya, an outsourcing company that employed moderators from across Africa to handle Facebook’s content moderation.
The lawsuit details the traumatic impact of exposure to graphic content, which allegedly caused some workers to faint, vomit, scream, or flee their workstations. The case highlights the psychological toll on workers in low-income regions who perform critical roles in shielding social media users from harmful content.
