The callers have denounced the ideological censorship and the precarious situation of workers in the Basque Country. This report is a rough portrait of the situation of those behind the screen. “We have instructions to erase Hitler’s content, but for example Franco’s, no,” two workers say that they want to remain anonymous. Facebook has already published its censorship offices in Lisbon (Portugal), Barcelona (Catalan Countries) or Warsaw (Poland). Another Wired report shows working conditions at a headquarters in the city of Manila (Philippines).

They charge 700 euros a month and are subcontracted through international companies such as Accenture. They are strictly forbidden to say that they work for Facebook and always refer to it as a “client” in writing.

Each of these "moderators" is shown on the screen the content that Facebook users have marked as incorrect. 30 seconds to decide: To delete “Delete” content or to post “Ignore”. A total of 500 cases should be treated daily. How do you decide what to remove? The criteria are the strictest on the part of Facebook.

Insults to women, go ahead

30% of emails have to break Facebook's rules to remove an account from someone, they've explained. However, they have recognized that it is dedicated to profiling rather than to the elimination of specific publications. “Let’s be realistic: if we removed the profiles of all the people who are engaged in making kids, who are going up porn, or who are selling marijuana, to name a few, we would have to erase a lot of profiles. And Facebook doesn’t want to run out of user.” They have reported that bullying messages are rare, so they do not reach their hands and, therefore, messages are posted against women.

The two employees of the company have denounced that on Facebook there is a "brutal" machist violence. “Many men, many young boys, are constantly insulting women through Facebook. Some do so many times that they even take into account the tricks for overcoming censorship. On many Facebook pages there is tremendous male persecution, women are told of everything, and nobody does anything.”

They say the same thing about fascism. “If a person makes comments to extol Hitler, they are erased. If a Spaniard extols Franco, it is published,” they say. “Fascism is accepted on Facebook. You can make a page full of Mussoliniz and Franco, and nothing happens, it's allowed." The Francisco Franco Foundation, for example, has its public page in this social network.

According to the testimonies of these two workers, a criticism of Zionism or of Israeli policies in Palestine can be identified as anti-Semitism, albeit without nuances. "An Israeli soldier who is hitting a child cannot be called a murderer. This comment has to be removed.”

Another pearl of the report: “We have seen children from Arab countries saying in videos uploaded to Facebook that they are going to commit suicide, no matter how; when a child from the United States or from Europe does the same, the authorities are called,” they say.

He has also referred to their censorship of nominees as a “terrorist group”. The regulations prohibit paying tribute to them, but there are countries that have several organizations designated as terrorists and for other countries those organizations are not terrorists. They say the only list that matters is that of the United States. There has also been talk of surreal situations, such as the picture of people who do not know who they are, especially of men with Middle Eastern beards. They've also been looking on the net or measuring the size of the beard to decide whether or not to erase.

The decisions that each worker must make in 30 seconds are known to the managers who are above them in the organizational chart and in 98% of the decisions must agree to assess that the work is well done and that something is appreciated in the precarious remuneration. The two interviewees say that most of the workers are young people of very little time.

The unfortunate situation of workers

“We have seen the children dead, the soldiers who have beaten civilians to death, with the brains spread on the ground,” they say in explaining their work. They say that the work is very hard and that many times they can't sleep because of the images they've seen. They say that post-traumatic stress is widespread among workers and that at the workplace they have a psychologist, although it is not mandatory to collect it with the latter.

Workers get bonuses if they watch the videos to the end. “If you’re not strong enough to watch the video to the end and you’ve made the decision before, your quality will influence,” which means less premium on the end of the month salary. “If someone sets fire on a video, we mark it for children under 18. But if in the video the person is burned to death, it has to be removed. So, someone has to see to the end.”

If a worker pulls a cell phone or bottle of water out of his pocket, the superiors will punish him. The eight-hour workday consists of a 30-minute rest, which is responsible for distributing the breaks, the time of the meal or the time needed to extend the legs. The company awards that workers are denounced and those who do have “good disposition” awards.

Rich entrepreneurs, workers in misery

Marc Zuckemberg, founder of Facebook, is one of the richest people in the world. Last year, Facebook earned 15.230 million dollars, 30 percent more than the previous year.