The Bestiality, Murder, Child Rape Job at Microsoft Sounds Unpleasant

Every search engine company assigns some level of human interaction to their online safety programs. That’s basically dudes in a room reviewing flagged content for levels of indecency. You see a lot of kiddy porn, torture rape, and gruesome murder photos. The algorithms are becoming more sophisticated to cull this with automation, but a half dozen years ago companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and the like pushed low level employees into the online safety room work. It was not a polite ask. The alternative was being fired.

Two of the guys who survived the Microsoft horrific content rooms are suing Microsoft for their lingering PTSD issues, none of which were properly addressed by Microsoft during their tenure. You want to scream fraud when you read psych trauma workers comp headlines, that is until you read the daily job descriptions:

“The new Online Safety team had just been created and Mr. Soto was one of the initial employees with the team and had limited information about the position. He did not understand the level of activity in the following areas: assisting law enforcement efforts to break up significant crime rings, the mob, the triad, and other violent groups, reviewing photos and video requiring him to witness horrible brutality, murder, indescribable sexual assaults, videos of humans dying and, in general, videos and photographs designed to entertain the most twisted and sick minded people in the world.”

Microsoft claimed they had an ongoing Wellness Program for members of the online safety team that included available counseling and suggestions they take walks and smoking and video game breaks. Thanks. We already had those. Both plaintiffs claim their nighttime dreams have changed from unicorns to baby unicorns being raped and murdered. Also, they won’t let their kids leave the house and they think about killing themselves most every moment they’re awake.

It’s easy to say these people all should’ve quit rather than perform this job. Easier than when you’re the person with a family needing a paycheck. As long as they can show they had their resumes out there looking for other work, I’d give them a few million of those Microsoft dollars. You can’t unsee all that shit. You’re a wounded warrior and you can’t even tell people your war stories because they involve drinking Starbucks coffee in an air-conditioned room in Redmond watching kids get diddled.