Moderation by Elaine Castillo review – a twisted look at the tech workplace

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Elaine Castillo’s second novel is set within the rotten heart of the US tech industry, where “Girlie was, by every conceivable metric, one of the very best.” What makes her so effective in her underpaid contract role moderating content for social media giant Reeden is that most prized of workplace currencies: a stoical capacity for labour. Though the job’s mental toll is clear – suicides are common, white staff never stick around and wellness support remains superficial – Girlie proves exceptionally hardy, near-perfect in her ability to identify and scrape feeds free of child sexual abuse content. Behind her productive...