More than 2,000 content moderators working for Meta licensed in Spain

The Canadian group Telus International, which employed these workers at its Barcelona site, " formally presented a social plan " during a meeting with employee organizations, the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) union announced in a press release.

During this meeting, the company's management indicated that " 2,059 people " would be affected by this social plan, i.e. "all the employees" who carried out moderation tasks for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, on the Barcelona site, the union specified.

According to CCOO, which says it has signed an agreement in principle providing for "the highest legal compensation" possible for employees, this redundancy plan was decided after the cancellation of the contract linking Telus International, which operated in Barcelona under the name CCC Barcelona Digital Services, to the American group.

" Under this preliminary agreement, the departures will take place in stages over the months of May, June, July and September 2025 " and " those affected will receive compensation of 33 days per year worked ," specified the UGT union, which also signed this compromise.

Despite the green light given to the latter, " we believe that the moderation sector requires the professionalization that these workers brought ," adds the union organization, which demands in its press release " a clear commitment to the creation of stable jobs ."

The cancellation of the contract between Meta and Telus International was announced in early April by several Spanish unions, which had mentioned a possible impact on 2,000 employees, specifying that the exact number of people affected was subject to negotiation.

Asked by AFP, a Telus spokesperson refused to confirm this figure, assuring that discussions were ongoing and that Telus continued to work " from other locations " with this "client", whose identity he did not give.

"Too much censored content"

Asked for comment on Monday, the spokesperson again declined to provide an exact number of job cuts. " The priority remains to support affected team members " by offering them " comprehensive assistance, including relocation opportunities for as many as possible ," he said.

Contacted by AFP, Meta had not responded as of Monday afternoon. In early April, the Californian group had assured that the end of its contract with Telus for its Barcelona site did not mean a reduction in its " content review efforts ."

" We still have around 40,000 people working on security, including 15,000 content moderators ," the group chaired by Mark Zuckerberg said, adding that it continues to "work with Telus across their global network."

According to the unions, the Barcelona site had been working for Meta since 2018.

Its moderators, based in the city's iconic building, the Glories Tower, worked on content in Spanish, Catalan, French, Dutch, Hebrew and Portuguese.

Meta Group, which has invested billions of dollars in recent years to monitor sensitive content, announced in January that it was ending fact-checking in the United States and updating its content moderation practices to screen out fewer messages that might violate its standards.

" Too much content was censored when it shouldn't have been ," the group, which also owns WhatsApp and Threads, justified at the time.

The move was widely seen as a way to appease President Donald Trump, who has been a vocal critic of Meta's moderation policies in recent years.