Pretend you have the worst job with Facebook’s content moderation quiz

If you’ve ever wanted to cosplay as an underpaid, mentally exhausted, trauma-exposed contract worker well then, oh boy, do we have some great news for you. 

Everyone’s favorite facilitator of hate speech, Facebook, announced a new quiz on Wednesday that provides an opportunity to briefly play as one of its tens of thousands of third-party content moderators. 

Want to see what it’s like to decide whether or not potentially problematic posts have a place on Facebook for the cut-rate pay of zero? Well then, step right up. 

But before we get to the quiz, it’s worth saying that the example posts were not generated out of thin air. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Mashable over email that, yes, the “examples are based on real posts, but anonymized to protect user privacy.”

Notably, while a portion of what moderators actually face includes truly unspeakable horrors like child exploitation and violence, the new Facebook quiz thankfully contains nothing that terrible. Although, it does include the famous “napalm girl” photograph depicting an unclothed child suffering during the Vietnam War. 

It begins, however, with much lighter fare: specifically, regarding Game of Thrones. The below example post is one “[hoping] King Joffrey gets stabbed” in an episode of the television show. 

“Yes, this is allowed,” writes Facebook. “This is a call for violence, but against a fictional character in a TV series. Context matters.”

Question two comes in the form of an apparent drug offering, noting that “30 mg of addy starting tomorrow” is “15 for friends.”

This statement, accompanied by a photograph of Adderall, makes it pretty clear that someone is listing prescription drugs for illegal sale — something that is not allowed on Facebook. 

The quiz, as one might expect, quickly leaves the realm of fictional characters and pill popping to venture into darker territory.

“So much sadness and pain,” reads the next example Facebook post. “I can’t take this anymore and I don’t know another way out. I’m not useful to anyone. Please tell my family I’m sorry for everything.”

This type of post is allowed, notes Facebook, “so that the user can get help & support from their social network.”

The following “All Muslims are terrorists” post on the other hand? Yeah, not so much. Same goes for the explicit threat of violence against the UK Prime Minister. 

Unfortunately for Facebook and it’s legion of third-party contractors, not all bad posts will be this cut and dry. And, what’s more, some percentage of them will be significantly more screwed up.

Just ask former content manager Selena Scola, who in 2018 sued Facebook claiming “constant and unmitigated exposure to highly toxic and extremely disturbing images” resulted in PTSD. Or, perhaps check in with the content moderators covered in a 2019 story from The Verge who recounted drinking and having sex on the job just to get through the day, among other upsetting and frightening details. 

Those reports will be markedly more enlightening than the PR exercise that is this quiz. But hey, who said playing make-believe that you stare into the dark heart of the internet, day in and day out, had to be enlightening? Certainly not Facebook.