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Facebook’s ex-content moderator claims her job gave her PTSD

Christina Kamkutis
Maura Flynn
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WVU chapter.

Every Facebook user can tell you about the weird stuff they’ve seen being posted on the public platform, and a few others could even tell you about some grim content that they have come across.

One of Facebook’s ex-content moderators, Selena Scola, is among those few. Scola is claiming that during her nine months working for Facebook, she had to watch so many disturbing videos and images that it has actually caused her to acquire post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to the New York Times, examples of gruesome acts being removed from Facebook’s public eye by Content Moderators include (but are not limited to):

  • The fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a Minnesota police officer
  • The suicide of a 14-year-old foster child
  • A father in Thailand killing his 11-month-old daughter and then hanging himself
  • Countless beheadings

Scola claims that her post-traumatic stress disorder is triggered, “when she touches a computer mouse, enters a cold building, watches violence on television, hears loud noises or is startled.”

Bertie Thomson, the director of corporate communications at Facebook, released the following statement regarding the condition of work for their moderators: “We recognize that this work can often be difficult, that is why we take the support of our content moderators incredibly seriously, starting with their training, the benefits they receive and ensuring that every person reviewing Facebook content is offered psychological support and wellness resources.”

According to Thomson, Facebook offers in-house resources to their employees for psychological support, including counseling services, but for people like Scola, that does not seem to be enough.

Scola wants Facebook to take more responsibility over the well-being of their employees, especially for their moderators, including starting a fund to establish a testing and treatment program that both current and former content moderators can have access to at any time.

This program would also provide medical testing services and psychiatric treatment for employees. Along with this proposal, Scola is requesting that Facebook pay her legal fees for the lawsuit she is pressing against them for her condition. Facebook has not currently released any new statements regarding this issue.

Christina is a junior at West Virginia University studying journalism and fashion business. Christina is a media intern at WVUToday, where she reports and edits stories daily. She has held editing and directing roles in HC at WVU, and is currently a co-president of the organization. She has been published three times in Mirage Magazine, a branch off of Ed on Campus. Christina is also in charge of the activism teams newly implemented in HC at WVU: VOICES— a student-run podcast exploring current social issues. Woman-Up—bringing awareness to the underrepresentation of women in the media field. The Pad Project—an international non-profit partnership to raise awareness surrounding the lack of education and stigmas around menstruation in developing countries. Upon graduation, Christina would like to work in the PR/Marketing fields of the fashion industry.
Maura is a senior at West Virginia University, studying honors journalism and leadership. She was the president of Her Campus at WVU from 2018-2019, interns with ESPN College GameDay and works as a marketing/communication assistant for the Reed College of Media. On campus, she has written opinion for WVU's Daily Athenaeum, served as the PR chair for WVU Society of Professional Journalists and was a reporter for WVUToday. She teaches leadership classes for the Honors College and is an active member of both the Honors Student Association and Helvetia Honorary. Maura is an avid fan of The New Yorker, (most) cities and the first half of late-night talk shows.