A documentary film entitled “The Cleaners” went viral on the Internet in 2018. The film followed the work of Filipino social media content moderators tasked with the harrowing job of “cleaning” the internet, which often required exposure to violent, sexually explicit, and other disturbing content, to determine what is deemed appropriate for their sites. Presumably, this grabbed the attention of the public because of the secretive nature of the work.Owing to the large demand and the ever-growing population of social media sites, the workers in content moderation are more likely to be outsourced from third parties to save on costs. The Philippines, through Business Process Outsourcing (“BPO”), is a major provider of said workers.
This paper aims to identify the mental health-related problems faced by workers, especially concerning the occupational safety hazards that accompany the mentally burdensome nature of their work. It explores the policies in support of workers exposed to these hazards, as found in various laws and issuances, and the methods of implementing these policies. An overview of our existing body of labor law suggests a lack of space reserved for outsourced Filipino content moderators. Hence, this paper also hopes to discuss other kinds of recourse which are unavailable, but necessary.