Facebook content moderator files suit after having to watch child porn, mass shootings

A Facebook content moderator from Carrollwood has filed a class-action lawsuit against the social network and the Tampa subcontractor that employs him, accusing the two companies of not providing proper support to workers who have to view traumatic content.

Clifford Jeudy, 47, said he accepted a job as a Facebook content moderator for Cognizant Technology Solutions, a Facebook subcontractors operating in Tampa, because it sounded like intriguing work.

"I was like, 'Why not? This is going to be exciting,'" he said.

Juedy, however, said the company didn't fully prepare him or his coworkers for dealing with the graphic content that would cross his screen in Facebook Live videos.

"We watch that for a living, all day: people getting murdered, killed, raped, child pornography, snuff films," he said. "You're policing the internet, but the platform has drugs, guns, terrorist recruitment, human trafficking, prostitution."

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And what Jeudy saw last March will stay with him for the rest of his life.

A gunman live-streamed one of two terror attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Fifty-one people were killed and Jeudy said he had to watch it live from his cubicle at Cognizant and then view it several more times.

"It's just horrific to see it over and over and over again," Jeudy said. "As the video goes viral, it's not like they delete it one time and it's gone. People are sharing it."

Each time it was shared, Jeudy said, he had to watch it again.

"It's tough to watch that many people get killed," he said.

The response that Jeudy said he and his coworkers received from Facebook and Congnizant is at the heart of the lawsuit against the two companies.

The lawsuit claims Facebook has workplace safety standards to help moderators deal with situations like this, but Cognizant didn't follow those protocols and Facebook didn't make sure they did.

As a result, Jeudy said he suffered immeasurable emotional and psychological trauma, leading him to need anxiety medication, take a leave of absence, and suffer a stroke.

"When you watch somebody die literally in front of you, isn't that the definition of PTSD?" he asked.

The lawsuit also accuses Facebook of negligence and Cognizant of "deliberately concealing or misrepresenting known dangers" of the job.

Facebook declined to comment. FOX 13 also reached out to Cognizant but did not receive a response.

Jeudy said he is still working for Cognizant because he's not ready to try to find a new line of work.