Facebook shuts down its content moderation services in Barcelona

BarcelonaMeta, Facebook's parent company, breaks the contract with its subcontracts in Barcelona. Telus International, a content moderation company located in Torre Glòries building, has lost its only client in the Catalan capital, forcing it to close. ARA has acknowledged that Meta has terminated its contract with Telus, and this Thursday the company informed all its employees—more than 2,000—of this decision.

Sources consulted by ARA report that around midday, the computer system began to fail, emails were not working, and finally, one of the executives informed the entire workforce that Meta has terminated its contract with Telus. A redundancy plan (ERE) at the company would result in the dismissal of approximately 2,100 people, according to sources from the CCOO (Working Council of Workers). However, this measure has not yet been registered, and for now, the company has told its employees that they will continue to be paid "until further notice." Nor has it provided any further explanation as to the reasons for this split. Telus reportedly received the news from Meta on April 1, and also as a surprise.

Meta in Barcelona

In 2018, news broke that Facebook would have an office in Barcelona. In reality, this wasn't exactly the case; the fact was that Facebook—now Meta—subcontracted the Irish company CCC Barcelona Digital Services to review the content published on the social media platforms of the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg, and it would be located in the Torre Glòries in Poblenou. CCC was later acquired by the Canadian group Telus International, which managed this office in Barcelona.

Since its inception, Facebook's subcontractor has not been exempt from controversy. It recorded around 20% absenteeism due to psychological trauma among its workers resulting from the work of reviewing the content, which also contains videos of murders, rapes, and suicides. Indeed, in 2022, the Labor Inspectorate fined the multinational €40,985 for failing to assess the psychosocial risks of its workers. The Inspectorate considered it a serious violation that an employee who viewed highly sensitive and violent content related to terrorism and suicide suffered from a mental health disorder. The company had already filed a collective dismissal (ERE) for 251 employees and a temporary layoff (ERTO) for 680, resulting in significant workforce reductions.