Global South Data Workers Expose 20-Hour Shifts Processing Graphic Content as Labor Organizing Spreads Across Kenya, Colombia, and Ghana

Data workers across Kenya, Colombia, and Ghana expose brutal 20-hour shifts processing thousands of graphic content cases daily, sparking widespread labor organizing and lawsuits against exploitative outsourcing practices that hide company identities while causing severe PTSD and depression among an estimated 150-430 million global workers.

• Data workers in the Global South, numbering between 150-430 million according to World Bank estimates, face exploitative conditions including 20-hour workdays processing up to 1,000 cases per shift while being exposed to graphic and violent content that causes severe mental health issues including PTSD and depression
• Business process outsourcing practices create opaque supply chains where workers often don't know which companies they're working for, with platforms like Remotasks concealing their connection to ScaleAI, making it difficult for workers to report grievances or challenge unfair labor practices
• Workers are organizing through unions like the African Content Moderators Union and filing lawsuits across Kenya, Colombia, and Ghana, while companies develop AI-assisted content moderation that could reduce human psychological burden but raises concerns about accuracy and cultural context understanding