Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is facing a lawsuit filed by content moderators in Ghana who allege they suffered severe psychological trauma from reviewing harmful and graphic online content. The case, brought by workers employed at Majorel, an Accra-based firm contracted by Meta to enforce its community standards, claims that prolonged exposure to violent, abusive, and disturbing material led to conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and substance abuse.
The moderators argue that mental health support provided by Majorel was grossly inadequate, with repeated pleas for assistance allegedly ignored by management. The accusations mirror earlier findings in Kenya, where over 100 Facebook content moderators were diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after handling similar tasks.
Social media companies like Meta heavily rely on human moderators to not only remove harmful content but also to train their artificial intelligence systems to better recognize and filter dangerous material. However, the mental health toll on these moderators — many working in low-income regions under precarious conditions — has increasingly drawn global scrutiny and calls for reform.
This latest case in Ghana further intensifies pressure on Meta to address how it manages the welfare of outsourced workers tasked with safeguarding its global digital platforms.
