It’s an unfortunate fact that Facebook is home to tons of offensive, and sometimes truly graphic, content. And while the company has invested in artificial intelligence to detect and remove these posts, it still relies heavily on thousands of real people to act as moderators.

Because of the nature of their jobs, these employees (who often aren’t even full-time) are exposed to some of the very worst content on the Internet. Many have even suffered from PTSD and other psychological issues as a result. That’s why Facebook recently agreed to an unprecedented $52 million settlement with contract workers who have been diagnosed with conditions related to their work.

“The harm that can be suffered from this work is real and severe,” the moderators’ attorney, Steve Williams, said in a statement. “This groundbreaking litigation fixed a major workplace problem involving developing technology and its impact on real workers who suffered in order to make Facebook safer for its users.”

While this settlement is a huge first step toward properly compensating these moderators, they still aren’t paid fairly given the awful things they see every day. They perform a vital service to keep the platform clean and usable, and they deserve to be rewarded as such.

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