San Francisco: YouTube is leaning on its software to screen videos as it adjusts its content moderation practices in the wake of the coronavirus. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which owns YouTube, the world’s biggest video site, announced Monday it would be temporarily increasing its reliance on automated content moderation, explaining in a blog post that its goal is to “continue to act quickly to remove violative content and protect our ecosystem, while we have workplace protections in place.”
A YouTube spokeswoman declined to say if the company was eliminating content moderation positions or if workers would be able to screen videos remotely.
Technology platforms such as YouTube and Facebook Inc. rely on tens of thousands of contract workers to sift through user-generated content flagged by its users or its software as potentially inappropriate. At the end of 2017, Google said its moderation workforce would cross 10,000 people. Both companies have faced criticism, including from some of their own employees, over their creation of a two-tiered workforce. Many content moderators are employed through subcontracting firms, and don’t receive the benefits and perks of full-time employees.
Last week, Google began allowing more staff to work from home, then began requiring employees in North America to do so. On March 10, it said it would compensate contract staff, such as cafeteria workers, for the office closures and began requiring contract firms to provide paid sick leave.
Facebook, which has required its direct staff in the Bay Area and Seattle to work from home, has said that some of its content review work cannot be done remotely for “safety, privacy and legal reasons.” It said over the weekend it was exploring remote work options for some contract workers.
“For roles that must be done in the office, we’re reducing the number of people present at any given time, as much as we can, and taking additional steps to limit contact for those in the office,” a Facebook spokesperson said over the weekend. -Bloomberg
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