Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters. (Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images)
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[This story was updated at 6:12 PM Eastern with statements from Facebook and Covalen.]
Facebook content moderators in Ireland met with the country’s deputy prime minister Leo Vardkhar on Friday, seeking support against unsafe working conditions. This marks the first time that a government official from any country has personally met with the social network’s frontline workers, who have effectively become the guardians of public discourse around the world.
Moderators Ibrahim Halawa and Paria Moshfeghi, with the support of Foxglove, a UK-based nonprofit tech watchdog, held a press conference moments after the meeting. “A lot of employees are really worried about their safety and about their mental health,” said Halawa. As well as the mental trauma of sifting through horrific images and hate speech, moderators in Ireland were required to return to the office late last year,…
