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‘I quit my job as a content moderator. I can never go back to who I was before.’ How a former content moderator thinks about the job

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Alberto Cuadra served as a content moderator at a video-streaming platform for less than a year, where he encountered disturbing videos depicting murders, suicides, animal and child abuse, sexual violence, and teenage bullying. These harrowing images and videos are screened out by a vast team of content moderators, sacrificing their own mental well-being to safeguard viewers from such harmful content that would otherwise be visible on social media feeds.  

Warning: The following illustrations contain references to disturbing content.
Alberto sits at a computer, with images of videos reflecting in his glasses (he sees all of this so we don’t have to). The text underneath reads: “Alberto Cuadra - Former content moderator.” Alberto: “I quit my job as a content moderator last year. But I'll never go back to the person I was before I watched those videos.”
Frames of videos with censored/redacted black boxes throughout. Alberto: “ At first, the job was fine. A lot of what we saw was nudity. We were the second filter so, by the time something reached us, another team had watched most of the content. My team was tasked with looking more closely. For example, we caught things that seemed like normal videos, but actually had flashes of nudity between frames. Or there were cases with really small squares within the video so you had to Zoom in to see the porn.”
More videos: a man with a blender and a person dancing, with redacted boxes over parts of their body. Alberto: “We would make fun of some of the videos with fake news and quack remedies.” Video creator: “Just make a smoothie with strawberries, potatoes and celery and you will cure your lung cancer.” Alberto: There was a lot of naked dancing. After about six months, something changed.
The entire page is taken up by a black redaction/censored box. Alberto: “It started with what we called the cat blender video. It was the first time the company told us not to watch something. They sent out guidance on what to look for in the first few frames so we could report it as animal abuse without watching. But by then, the video had been around for over a week, and I knew a lot of people who had seen it. “
A person in an office looking at a screen. We see his reaction to whatever he is watching - horror in his face. Alberto: “There was one particularly horrifying video that caused hysteria within the moderators. Everyone was so scared they would have to watch it. I never did, but I watched my coworkers react to it.”
Three social media videos next to each other: one is a soccer compilation, the next one a silly prank video, and the third a black redacted/censored box. Alberto: “The graphic content comes when you least expect it. It put us all on edge. I would see videos hinting at horrible things and not know the outcome.” Person in a “live” video: “I’m going to [redacted] tonight.” At right, a series of DMs (please make it look more like the actual TikTok UI) in which someone is asking the person whether they are ok repeatedly, and then they report the conversation.
People walking in an office setting. Alberto: “The company provided a certain number of free sessions with a therapist per traumatic issue. I knew at least 10 people who wanted to quit, but they needed the therapy.” Person One: “I’m staying until my sessions are up, then I’m out of here.” Person Two: “Me, too. I just hope there’s not another video this bad.”
Alberto looking very tired with bags under his eyes. In the next panel, he lies awake in bed with an alarm clock that shows a time in the middle of the night. Alberto: “After a while, my friends started to notice I wasn’t doing good. I was really angry all the time. I couldn’t sleep. My mental health was the main reason I quit, even though it meant I was on my own to deal with it. These jobs paid really well for my country, so there was a revolving door for them.”
Alberto riding a bus looking anxious. The outside world is reflecting in his glasses now. Underneath, the panel is black. Alberto: “I still feel anxious and angry at times. When I travel, I get nervous because of all the accident videos I watched on video. What if I’m in the next video? Will my former coworkers have to watch me die? You’re never going to be able to go back to the time before you watched the content. I don’t have children, but if I ever do, I won’t let them on any type of social media until they’re 18.”
(Maya Scarpa/For The Washington Post)
If you or someone you know needs help, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. You can also reach a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

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