Facebook will pay $52 million in settlement to content moderators suffering from mental health issues like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to a report by The Verge.

The company has filed a preliminary settlement on Friday in San Mateo Superior Court, and has agreed to compensate American content moderators in return for damages and provide more counselling to them during their tenure, the report said.

The social media giant will pay a minimum amount of $1,000 to each moderator. They will also be eligible for additional compensation if they are diagnosed with PTSD or related conditions. The settlement covers 11,250 moderators.

As many as half of them may be eligible for extra compensation for mental health issues, including depression and addiction.

The job’s toll

The settlement comes after the social media giant had drawn flak for its content moderation system and the toll that the job takes on its moderators.

According to a New York Times report, a former Facebook content moderator Selena Scola had filed a lawsuit against the company back in 2018 alleging that she had developed PTSD after the job.

She had developed mental health issues owing to being placed in a job requiring her to regularly view photos and images of rape, murder and suicide.

The suit was joined by Facebook moderators working in four other states, it said.

The preliminary settlement includes moderators working in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida from 2015 until now, the report said.

The platform is also rolling out a few changes to its content moderation system to reduce the impact of harmful images and videos including muting audio by default and switching videos to black and white. It will also offer counselling for its moderators along with group therapy sessions.

Changes will be rolled out to 80 per cent of moderators by year-end. It will be rolled out for all of Facebook’s moderators by 2021.

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