Though she felt “a little bit like a voyeur,” she believed Gaggle helped protect kids. Their work is supposed to ferret out evidence of potential self-harm, threats or bullying, incidents that would prompt Gaggle to notify school leaders and, in some cases, the police.Īs a result, kids’ deepest secrets - like nude selfies and suicide notes - regularly flashed onto Waskiewicz’s screen. Through an algorithm designed to flag references to sex, drugs, and violence and a team of content moderators like Waskiewicz, the company sifts through billions of students’ emails, chat messages and homework assignments each year. on their school-issued Google and Microsoft accounts. Waskiewicz worked as a content moderator for Gaggle, a surveillance company that monitors the online behaviors of some 5 million students across the U.S. The mother from Pittsburgh didn’t want other parents in the crowd to know she was also looking at child porn. While watching one of her five children play basketball on the court below, she knew she had to be careful. Megan Waskiewicz used to sit at the top of the bleachers, rest her back against the wall and hide her face behind the glow of a laptop monitor. If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.