Facebook has been paying hundreds of human contractors to listen to audio clips from its users and transcribe them. New from me: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Facebook confirms it has done this, but says it's not happening anymore: “Much like Apple and Google, we paused human review of audio more than a week ago.”
The contractors I talked to were concerned that what they were doing was unethical, after all of Facebook's denials that it's listening to you. Facebook didn't tell them where the audio was from or what the transcription was supposed to help with.
It turns out that the audio came from people who opted to have their voice chats transcribed in Facebook Messenger. Facebook stopped human review after Apple, Google, and Amazon came under scrutiny (after other Bloomberg scoops!)
Anyway, thank you to all those who are reaching out with tips and thoughts. I am always willing to hear from contractors, current and former employees, and partners/advertisers/users/others who interact with the companies I cover.
Comment from spokeswoman working on behalf of TaskUs: "Facebook asked TaskUs to pause this work over a week ago, and it did."
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