Microsoft employees say monitoring disturbing content traumatized them

There is a very dark underbelly to the web that is not for the weak of stomach. You may be thinking of 4chan, but that place is just the starting point. Unfortunately, it falls to some people to monitor this garbage for law enforcement, and in the case of two Microsoft employees, it drove them over the edge. 

In a lawsuit filed against Microsoft, Henry Soto and Greg Blauert claim they were forced daily for months to view some of the most disturbing photos and videos you can find on the internet and that Microsoft did nothing as the constant viewing took its toll on them. They now claim to suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 

The two were part of Microsoft’s Online Safety Team, a group formed to investigate content being stored on Microsoft sites, like OneDrive, that should be taken down or reported to police. 

Blauert and Soto claim Microsoft did not fully prepare them for what the Online Safety Team would be doing, which was going through users’ accounts and communications and viewing sickening images of children being physically and sexually abused and even killed. And according to Courthouse News, the two weren’t given the choice of passing on the job assignment when Microsoft hired them. 

“Plaintiffs Henry Soto and Greg Blauert were not warned about the likely dangerous impact of reviewing the depictions nor were they warned they may become so concerned with the welfare of the children, they would not appreciate the harm the toxic images would cause them and their families,” they say in the complaint. 

Unable to transfer to different department

The two say they were forced to remain there for 18 months before they could request a transfer. And in that time period, both men claim they suffered from continually reviewing disturbing content. 

Soto says the job “took a significant toll on him personally,” and he began having nightmares and disturbing hallucinations after viewing a video of a girl being abused and killed. 

Soto was transferred to a new position in 2014, but he continued to suffer PTSD symptoms and took medical leave in 2015. Labor and Industries denied Soto’s claim for PTSD injuries, saying the condition is not an occupational disease and is excluded, according to the complaint. 

In the complaint, Blauert and Soto said Microsoft provided fairly weak counseling sessions. In those sessions, the counselor suggested Blauert take more breaks to walk, smoke and play video games during the day, according to the lawsuit. 

Both men say their work has damaged their relationship with their families, especially their children, made it difficult for them to go out in public and severely limited their ability to even go onto the internet. 

Microsoft’s response

Microsoft issued the following statement concerning the suit: 

We disagree with the plaintiffs’ claims. Microsoft takes seriously its responsibility to remove and report imagery of child sexual exploitation and abuse being shared on its services, as well as the health and resiliency of the employees who do this important work. 

Microsoft applies industry-leading technology to help detect and classify illegal imagery of child abuse and exploitation that are shared by users on Microsoft Services. Once verified by a specially trained employee, the company removes the imagery, reports it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and bans the users who shared the imagery from our services.

This work is difficult, but critically important to a safer and more trusted internet. The health and safety of our employees who do this difficult work is a top priority. Microsoft works with the input of our employees, mental health professionals, and the latest research on robust wellness and resilience programs to ensure those who handle this material have the resources and support they need, including an individual wellness plan. We view it as a process, always learning and applying the newest research about what we can do to help support our employees even more. 

As someone who has gotten around to some of the really bad parts of the internet, I know how soul destroying this stuff can be. At least I have the option of turning away quickly. To make people sort through it all day after day is brutal. And then a counselor tells Blauert to take smoke breaks to deal with it. What kind of advice is that? 

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This heartlessness took place under the old regime, so hopefully things are better under the kinder, gentler rule of Satya Nadella. If not, this is one big wake up call, not just for Microsoft but for Facebook and other social media sites. Yes, people have to do the dirty job of policing their site. But you need to give them a lot of care because they see awful stuff and often aren’t trained to handle it. My best friend worked in video forensics and was an expert witness at trials. She told me horror stories, and she told me about the cops who helped her get through processing some of the worst videos she ever saw. That support is needed.

At the same time, the two should have walked out at some point. I realize they were family men with mortgages, but Seattle is not exactly an economically depressed region. There had to be another job somewhere. They had to come to a point where it wasn’t worth it any more.