Moderator sues TikTok over traumatic content

By Ahmad Alsayouf, Staff Reporter, The Pawprint

On December 29, 2021 a former TikTok moderator sued the social media app for failing to preserve her mental health after continuous display of traumatizing content. 

The former moderator, Candie Frazier stated that she reviewed up to 12 hours worth of videos which contained “extreme and graphic violence”, due to this, she said that she’s suffering from “significant psychological trauma” such as depression and anxiety.

TikTok aims to provide “a caring working environment” for its moderators. To keep its users safe, the video-sharing site employs hundreds of in-house and contract content moderators who filter out videos and accounts that violate company policies.

Ms Frazier is suing TikTok as well as its parent firm, Chinese internet behemoth Bytedance. She alleges that as a moderator, she was exposed to horrific content such as assault, shootings, and child abuse.