A former Meta worker who labored on its content material moderation techniques and coverage, and who spoke to WIRED on the situation of anonymity, says, nevertheless, that mass reporting may not less than get sure items of content material or accounts flagged for assessment. And the extra often a sure sort of content material is flagged, the extra probably the algorithm will likely be to flag it sooner or later. However, with languages the place there may be much less materials to coach the algorithm, like Bulgarian, and AI could be much less correct, the previous worker says that it’s probably extra probably {that a} human moderator would make the ultimate name about whether or not or to not take away a bit of content material. 

Meta spokesperson Ben Walters informed WIRED that Meta doesn’t take away content material primarily based on the variety of studies. “If a piece of content does not violate our Community Standards, no matter how high the number of reports is, it won’t lead to content removal,” he says. 

Some moderation points may very well be the results of human error. “There are going to be error rates, there are going to be things that get taken down that Meta did not mean to take down. This happens,” they are saying. And these errors are much more probably in non-English languages. Content moderators are sometimes given solely seconds to assessment posts earlier than having to decide about whether or not or not it would keep on-line, an indicator by which their job efficiency is measured.

There can be an actual risk that there may very well be bias amongst human moderators. “The majority of the population actually supports Russia even after the war in Ukraine,” says Galev. Galev says that it’s not unreasonable to assume that some moderators may also maintain these views, significantly in a rustic with limited independent media.

“There’s a lack of transparency around who is who is deciding, who is making the decision,” says Ivan Radev, a board member of the Association of European Journalists Bulgaria, a nonprofit, which put out a statement condemning Bird.bg’s posting of worker info. “This sentiment is feeding dissatisfaction in Bulgaria.” This opacity can breed confusion.

The imbalance between the power of coordinated campaigns to get content material flagged, and that of people or small civil society organizations, whose studies go to human moderators, has helped to create an impression in Bulgaria that Meta is prioritizing pro-Russian content material over pro-Ukrainian content material.

Just over half of Bulgaria’s 6.87 million folks use Facebook, which is the dominant social platform within the nation. Bulgaria has lengthy been a target of Russian trolls and pro-Russian propaganda, significantly for the reason that starting of the struggle in Ukraine. Both sympathetic native media and Russian disinformation operations have pushed a pro-Russia narrative, blaming the conflict on NATO.

Ezekiev, the BOEC member, informed WIRED that he was by no means given an evidence for why his content material was eliminated or how the selection was made. “If you raise your voice against propaganda and say something about the war in Ukraine, your account can be suspended,” he says. Meta’s personal lack of transparency about its moderation processes, says Ezekiev, makes the whole scenario murkier.

It is that this frustration that drove BOEC to protest at Telus International’s Sofia workplace, and led to workers—themselves largely powerless—being doxed and harassed, although there isn’t any proof that any of the corporate’s moderator deviated from Meta’s personal directions.

In February, Bulgarian media reported that Telus International can be closing its operations within the nation and transferring the work to Germany. “As part of a consolidation of operations, the work Telus International does for Meta in Sofia will be moving to another of our sites,” says Telus International spokesperson Michelle O’Brodovich. “Telus International continues to work successfully with Meta, ensuring the highest level of professional standards.” The firm didn’t handle whether or not or not the inquiries into its work in Bulgaria contributed to this choice.