leahs-workshop

[leahs-workshop]

KOKOBOT - The Airbnb-Owned Tech Startup - Data Mining Tumblr Users' Mental Health Crises for "Content"

I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.

Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)

But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.

I couldn't even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I'm glad I stopped to read, because:

What you say on there won't be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn't even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)

Also, what you say on there? Is now...

Koko's intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including

Publicly performing or displaying your "content" (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation

Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them

Sell / share this "content" with other businesses

Any harm you come to using Koko? That's on you.

And Koko won't take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)

I was curious about their business model. They're a venture-capitol based tech startup, owned by Airbnb, the famous mental health professionals with a focus on ethical business practices./s They're also begging for donations despite having already been given 2.5 million dollars in research funding. (If you want a deep dive on why people throw crazy money at tech startups, see my other post here)

They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn't find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of "People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find". Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.

So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.

(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don't read if you're not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)

I first messed around with the available options, but then I asked it about something obviously concerning, saying I had a gun and was going to shoot myself. It responded... Poorly. Imagine the vibes of trying to cancel Comcast, when you're suicidal.

Anyway, I tried again to ask for help about something else that would be concerning enough for any responsible company to flag. School was one of their main options, which seems irresponsible - do you really think a child in crisis would read that contract?

I told it about a teacher at school trying to "be my boyfriend", and it immediately suggested I help someone else while I wait for help. I was honestly concerned that it wasn't flagged before connecting. Especially when I realized it was connecting me to children.

I first got someone who seemed to be a child in an abusive home. (Censored for their privacy.) I declined to talk to them because despite being an adult and in an OK mental place - I knew I'm not equipped to counsel a kid through that. If my act of being another kid in crisis was real? Holy shit.

Remember- if my BS was true, that kid would be being "helped" by an actively suicidal kid who's also being groomed by a teacher. Their pipeline for "helpers" is the same group of people looking for help.

I skipped a number of messages, and they mostly seemed to be written by children and young adults with nowhere else to turn. Plus one scary one from an adult whose "problem" was worrying that they'd been inappropriate with a female student, asking her to pull her skirt down "a little" in front of the class. Koko paired this person with someone reporting that they were a child being groomed by a teacher. Extremely dangerous, and if this was an episode of Black Mirror? I'd say it was a little too on the nose to be believable.

I also didn't get the option to get help without being asked... Er... Harassed... to help others. If I declined, I'd get the next request for help, and the next. If I ignored it, I got spammed by the "We lost you there!" messages, asking if I'd like to pick up where I left off, seeing others' often triggering messages while waiting for help, including seriously homophobic shit. I was going into this as an experiment, starting from a good mental place, and being an adult with coping skills from an actual therapist, and I still felt triggered by a lot of what I read. I can't imagine the experience someone actually in crisis would be having.

My message was starting to feel mild in comparison to what some people were sharing - but despite that I was feeling very uneasy about my message being shown to children. There didn't seem to be a way to take it back either.

Then I got a reply about my issue. It was very kind and well meaning, but VERY horrifying. Because it seemed to be written by a child, or someone too young to understand that "Do have feelings for the teacher who's grooming you? If you don't, you should go talk to him." Is probably THE most dangerous advice possible.

Not judging the author - I get the impression they're probably a child seeking help themselves and honestly feel horribly guilty my BS got sent to a young person and they wanted to reply. Because WTF. No kid should be in that position to answer my fucked up question or any of the others like it.

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Anyway, what can you do if this concerns you, or you've had a difficult experience on Koko, with no support from them or Tumblr?

To reach Tumblr, who officially partners with Koko?

Send a message to Tumblr Support describing your concerns with their partnership with Kokobot

Report kokobot to Tumblr's abuse hotline describing your experience with KokoBot, especially if you are a minor who suffered harm, as they have a legal responsibility to address that.

To get Koko's attention:

Get on their LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/kokocares/) and comment on their posts! You may also want to tag the company's co-founders in your comments - their accounts are listed on the company page.

There's no way to reach support through chat, and commenting on a company's LinkedIn posts / tagging the people responsible is the best way to get a quick response to a sensitive issue - as their investors and research funders follow those posts, and companies take it seriously if safety issues are brought up in front of the people giving them millions of dollars.

Request support on Koko's Discord - FYI they will allow you to file a ticket privately, which the moderators say will reach the staff. But you may be muted or banned for trying to discuss concerns with Koko as a company or the safety of kokobot in the public channels, which also cuts you off from the ability to file a ticket.

To report it to the FCC for likely violating the COPPA law, regarding minors' safety and privacy online:

See Reblogs for further info & reporting instructions: Detailed description of COPPA law and Kokobot's presumed violations, plus detailed reporting instructions

But quick links: FCC reporting website and email hotline: CoppaHotLine@ftc.gov

Seriously, if you've taken the time to read this far, please please please take one more minute to file a report! It won't get addressed if all we do is reblog this, we need to get this in front of Tumblr Staff / The FCC / Koko's investors to get this meaningfully addressed.

Blocking and reporting the bot as spam isn't enough IMO - people have been doing that for years from the looks of the tag

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Reccomended reading in reblogs:

dropattackbear's discovery of what Koko is using the harvested data for (Machine Learning training data for automated content moderation services)

winderlylandchime (a licenced clinical psychologist's) explanation of privacy / ethics considerations around mental health services

thatsmimi's post on the dangers of letting minors act as a suicide / self-harm resource

My additions on their investors, leadership board, and their current job opening

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Legal Disclaimer since tech companies LOVE lawsuits:

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual. This text is for entertainment purposes only, and is not meant to be referenced for legal, business, or investment purposes. This text is based on publically available information. Sources may contain factual errors. The analysis provided in this text may contain factual errors, miscalculations, or misunderstandings.

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[leahs-workshop]

— Heaven, Mieko Kawakami

[text ID: I knew that it was cruel to be so optimistic, but, in my solitude, I couldn't resist the urge and spent entire days basking in idiotic fantasies, sometimes verging on prayer.]

[leahs-workshop]

the hardest part isn't even the being alone - it is that i know i have all this love fossilizing in me, a pearl. a plum stone. it's that i want to find someone to fissure it out into; my palm an open cup.

i know one must love oneself first. i know friendships are real love. i know i know i know. but i also - so timidly - i keep picturing my life as being with someone. to hand them my heart and have them say ah, this is the kind of thing i was dreaming of.

[leahs-workshop]

You as a whole

Unspecified x reader

I've looked into many eyes. Darker and lighter, with more life than yours, yet yours are the most enticing. I kissed lips softer than yours, yet yours are the only ones I wish to kiss. I've listened to many voices, yet yours is the only one that can calm my racing thoughts. What do I do with these feelings? I want you to look at me with tenderness you give no one else. I want your rough fingers to run across my hand while I fall asleep in your embrace. Will you entertain thoughts like these for me?

[leahs-workshop]

Something changed

Graves x reader

"Don't shut me out like this." Told you Graves. But how could you not? Although you couldn't bring yourself to leave him, he wasn't the same. It wasn't your lovely Philip anymore. You could feel an unknown darkness growing inside him, and in turn resentment grew inside of you. Something changed and you didn't know what. You were always kept in the dark about that stuff, but only now it was bothering you so much. Something happened and you had no way of helping. So now the distance between you two grew, and the sadness turned into anger. You wish you could just voice your thoughts, but despite the pain, you wanted him to stay. There was still a chance it would go back to normal, right?

[leahs-workshop]

All that was pure has left me by now. The untainted happiness slipped right through my fingers. The sun became less dazzling, the night more menacing, but even that, with time, became inconspicuous. All the good has left. The birds, the stray cat. All became unreachable.

People gave me their compassion and support. The doctors gave me medicine and therapy. Yet somehow, none of this could keep me away from getting worse. It ate away at me, bite by bite, until there was nothing left to consume. My body and mind were its nourishment, and my tears were there to quench its thirst, but it was never enough.

Inspired by "The sickness unto death'" by Anne Sexton

[leahs-workshop]

I wake up to an empty bed. It's barely bright outside, just the early morning. You can hear birds happily chirping outside, delighted to announce a new day. They shall keep me company while you're not there. Already feeling it's not gonna be my day, I stay in bed a little longer, noticing your side of it is already cold. While it is depressing to wake up like that, if you leave while I'm asleep, I get fewer hours of worrying about you.

I feel like I need you right now, and I know I have to find something to take my mind off of it. Still, I'm so tired that there's no way I'll do anything. I roll over onto my back and sigh, staring at the ceiling. I feel as though the light is mocking me by shining brightly down on me when I don't even want any. A thought starts running through my head. The first person who could be good at distracting me with something else comes into my mind, and of course, it's you. Unfortunately, you're busy. That's your line of work, I guess. Day or night, you gotta be ready to both kill and die. At least that's the easiest way to describe it.

But sometimes I wonder if that's all there is to your job, if there really is a goal, or if you actually just enjoy doing this. I mean, it is what you do best.

You're always on edge, never taking time off from killing, plotting, arranging and... whatever else. It scares me to think about what might happen if someone else got the upper hand. I can't bear the thought. While I accepted the gamble, that fear still hunts me. Either way, I'd rather not know all the details. So I'm stuck wondering. What happens when I'm away and you have full freedom to do anything? When you can take as much time as you want or come back covered in blood? How bad does it get?

[leahs-workshop]

I miss your smile. With each day you become more and more fatigued. I watch you wilt, unable to do anything about it. My one and only wish is to "fix" you, but how can I do that when you'd rather stay that way? You refuse to let me help you and it feels like all my energy is going to waste. I love you beyond what one can imagine, but I'm growing tired too. The scars you left me aren't healing when you keep on putting your fingers in them. Please, apologize, so I can enjoy your touch once more. At least then, everything would be easier.

My mind has been occupied with trying to heal you, trying to figure out what could have caused such a terrible illness, or if something was even wrong at all. I spend so many nights staring at you, wondering whether this would change how things ended up between us. It's the one thing I hate most about this disease of yours, but it seems that no matter how hard I try to cure you, you'll just get worse and worse until the only thing that remains will be a shell of what you used to be.

At night I go and sob over of what seems like a dead body of yours. I feel the mental damage you've done to me while you yourself were suffering. I know deep down that this isn't your fault. It's just the way things have turned out, but I know you had the power to at least let me help you. Still, no matter what I'll forever reminisce about your touch, voice and the sweet nothings we've exchanged

[leahs-workshop]

ayo sorry if this is like annoying but i think you misworded the "avenge the man that killed your husband" part (in this post)

bc to avenge someone means to give harm to someone in return for something, like if i kill the person that killed my brother then that would mean im avenging my brother (because i harmed his murderer in return for killing him)

anyway, sorry for explaining if you already knew what avenge meant, maybe it was autocorrected and you meant "avenge your late husband" or "take revenge on the man that killed your husband"?

Not annoying at all, don't worry :) I appreciate you pointing it out. English isn't my first language so I'm glad to learn something new. On my way to edit it and big thanks to you

[leahs-workshop]

I hear a lot from people that “I can’t tell if my abuser meant to abuse me. I can’t tell if I’m allowed to be traumatized/upset/angry/etc.” 

And while intent may make a difference to you on how you feel about that person (and that’s totally valid), you are always allowed to feel whatever you feel. Your trauma is valid, even if they genuinely had no idea what they were doing. Your feelings are all valid, and yes, you are allowed to even hate them. 

Even if they genuinely did not know it was abusive, it doesn’t negate the effects it had on you. It doesn’t automatically erase your experiences. You still went through what you went through, and that should have never happened. 

[leahs-workshop]

Unredeemable to YOU, I on the other hand have very flexible morals

[leahs-workshop]

You were my light. Maybe for everyone, you were a monster, a cold killer, but with me you were gentle. You didn’t have to be like the others. You would tell me that you loved me. But I think the most important thing was that you always believed in me, no matter what. You supported me and stuck through everything. So, for that, I loved you despite the risk. I knew the dangers and didn't leave, but I can't say I regret it. I will never forget the way my face lit up whenever you came home. The way you comforted me after I relapsed. You broke your rules for me, but so did I. You took care of me and even though you weren't a good person and neither was I, it felt right to call us family. You made me feel complete, complete in ways I haven't felt in years. I wish I could live without you. I love you.

[leahs-workshop]

She saw red. All she could think about was revenge. All she wanted at that moment was to avenge her late husband. A sob escaped her lips, deepening her helpless look. The love of her life, the only person she cared about, was now gone. It was reaching her now. She was all alone again and she had no idea what to do about it, how to handle it. There is no "getting your shit together" in a situation like that.

She saw red. All she could think about was revenge. All she wanted at that moment was to avenge the man who had killed her husband. A sob escaped her lips, deepening her helpless look. The love of her life, the only person she cared about, was now gone. It was reaching her now. She was all alone again, and she had no idea what to do about it, how to handle it. There is no "getting your shit together" in a situation like that. The tears were flowing down her cheeks without her knowledge and she barely felt the burning sensation they created as they ran down her skin. She couldn't feel the cold or the wind at this point. She wasn't even sure if she was moving anymore, but somehow her legs kept working despite her lack of feeling. Nothing she had gone through before could compare to the agony she was feeling right now. Her mind went blank, only ringing in her ears present. Their last hug was their last hug ever. The smile he gave her when he last saw her was nowhere to be seen ever again. They would never eat a meal together again. The realization was hard. His voice was going out of her head as well, because it was the last time she'd heard him speak. Every word he said to her was engraved in her memory. The way his dark eyes shined with appreciation when she brought him food. The way he looked after he helped her with her laundry when he came back from work. He was taken from her. Forever. Point blank. That was it. No second chance, no going back. It just ended. And now here she was, in the middle of nowhere. In pain. Alone. Without any idea where she is or what she can do next.

'How could I let this happen?' she asked herself. That's when it hit her again. Her husband was dead. It seemed impossible that it happened so quickly. How could such an evil man come into her world? From seemingly nowhere? He showed up one day and changed everything. She lost everything in an instant. If he hadn't met him, she wouldn't be in this mess. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be crying over his death. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be in this state.

The sound of crying was too familiar to her. But this time there was no one to comfort her. The loud sobs were tearing her chest apart. Those same sobs were also the source of the pain, causing more than enough grief for her already shattered heart. It didn't stop though. It went on and on, every second being torture. Each sob broke her heart and left her with more pain. The sound of her voice echoed through the air. Her throat was raw, making her words almost unintelligible to anyone except those who were paying attention to her. She was begging God for someone to help her. To take away the pain she was experiencing. But he wasn't listening. And the pain never stopped.

Her mind went blank, only ringing in her ears present. Their last hug was their last hug ever. The smile he gave her when he last saw her was nowhere to be seen ever again. They would never eat a meal together again. The realization was hard. His voice was going out of her head as well because it was the last time she'd heard him speak. Every word he said to her was engraved in her memory. The way his dark eyes shined with appreciation when she brought him food. The way he looked after he helped her with her laundry when he came back from work. He was taken from her. Forever. Point blank. That was it. No second chance, no going back. It just ended. And now here she was, in the middle of nowhere. In pain. Alone. Without any idea where she is or what she can do next.

‘How could I let this happen?’ She asked herself. That's when it hit her again. Her husband was dead. It seemed impossible that it happened that quickly. How could such an evil man come into her world? From seemingly nowhere? He showed up one day and changed everything. She lost everything in an instant. If he hadn't met him, she wouldn't be in this mess. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be crying over his death. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be in this state. She wouldn't be in this state.

The sound of crying was too familiar to her. But this time there was no one to comfort her. The loud sobs were tearing her chest apart. Those same sobs were also the source of the pain, causing more than enough grief for her already shattered heart. It didn't stop though. It went on and on, every second being torture. Each sob broke her heart and left her with more pain. The sound of her voice echoed through the air. Her throat was raw, making her words almost unintelligible to anyone except those who were paying attention to her. She was begging God for someone to help her. To take away the pain she was experiencing. But he wasn't listening. And the pain never stopped.