Shifts

Opinion ‘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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Illustrated by Maya Scarpa for The Washington Post. Beatrix Lockwood spoke to Alberto Cuadra, a former content moderator for a popular video streaming...more
Illustrated by Maya Scarpa for The Washington Post. Beatrix Lockwood spoke to Alberto Cuad...more

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Alberto Cuadra worked as a content moderator at a video-streaming platform for just under a year, but he saw things he’ll never forget. He watched videos about murders and suicides, animal abuse and child abuse, sexual violence and teenage bullying — all so you didn’t have to. What shows up when you scroll through social media has been filtered through an army of tens of thousands of content moderators, who protect us at the risk of their own mental health.

Warning: The following illustrations contain references to disturbing content.

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For the past year, we’ve been speaking with workers across the continent whose jobs did not exist a generation ago to learn more about our new era of work — and what it means for our future. In these comics, you’ll hear from workers, who describe in their own words what they do for a living and how it has changed over time.
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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.