Bilibili to Expand Content Review Team After Employee Allegedly Died of Overworking

Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, February 9 (TMTPOST) — Chinese video platform Bilibili (09626.HK) pledged on Tuesday to expand its content review team by hiring 1,000 new reviewers to reduce the workload on current employees after one of the company"s content reviewers passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage.

A dedicated team has been established to help the employee"s families cope with the tragic event, Bilibili said.

Bilibili informed its staff about the passing of the employee in an internal email on Monday. According to Bilibili"s internal email, the employee surnamed Guan was hospitalized on February 4 in the afternoon and unfortunately passed away due to cerebral hemorrhage at around 8:00 PM. Bilibili said that the employee"s supervisor, manager and human resource personnel went to the hospital to help Guan with the paperwork and informed his family.

Several sources claimed on social media on Monday that the employee died of overworking as he was required to work overtime during the Spring Festival from 9 am to 9 pm. Content reviewers at Bilibili have a 12-hour work schedule every day and have three different shifts, according to sources.

Bilibili has responded to speculations circulating on the Internet, saying that Guan had an 8-hour work schedule and worked five days a week during the Spring Festival. Guan was compensated with a 300% base salary during the Spring Festival as required by the labor law, Bilibili said. The company also stated that Guan did not work overtime during the week before his passing.

The content review team at Bilibili reviews and assesses videos uploaded by its users, and therefore it needs to also work during national holidays, the company said.

Bilibili"s responses did not stop further accusations from emerging. Influencer Wang Luobei, who focuses on career development content on Weibo, claimed that he received evidence of Bilibili modifying the work schedule for employees. Wang"s source said that he or she personally saw the company erase Guan"s overwork record. Bilibili has responded that it did not modify the work schedule record.

Wang said on Wednesday that he has received a letter of demand from Bilibili. However, details of the letter have not been disclosed.

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