File photo: The Facebook app logo can be seen in this illustration taken on August 22, 2022.Reuters / Dado Ruvic / Illustration/File photo
BARCELONA/MADRID — A former Facebook moderator’s mental health was damaged by his job reviewing graphic content, including beheadings, a Spanish court has ruled in a case that could affect how social media companies and moderators work together. It was decided that
A court in Barcelona upheld the decision of the Spanish Social Security Agency, stating that the psychiatric treatment requested by the subcontractor was due to work-related problems and that he was entitled to additional compensation for sick leave. .
The moderator was employed by CCC Barcelona Digital Services, part of Telus International, one of Facebook owner Meta’s outsourcing providers, from 2018 to 2020.
Telus said it was disappointed with the ruling and planned to appeal.
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A Meta spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company “doesn’t agree.” [a] A party to the incident in question. ”
Francesc Feliu, a labor lawyer who also represents about 20 former and current content moderators at the CCC on similar legal grounds, said content moderators’ sick leave was work-related. This is the first time in Spain that this has been recognized by a court in Spain.
The court said the former workers had to watch content such as “self-harm, decapitations of civilians killed by terrorist organizations, torture inflicted on people, suicides”.
CCC filed a lawsuit in 2022 seeking to overturn the Social Security Administration’s decision that the host’s mental health condition was a result of his work.
In a January 12 ruling seen by Reuters, Judge Jesus Fuertes dismissed the CCC’s claims.
“This worker is suffering from conditions that have a significant emotional and psychological impact on his job,” he wrote, adding that the leave granted in 2019 was “solely and without question” due to his job. he added.
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According to the ruling, the worker’s inability to work was caused by severe anxiety, including panic attacks, isolation, difficulty swallowing and fear of death.
Martha Dark, director of the London-based technology justice advocacy group Foxglove, said the court was “100% correct in finding that Facebook’s efforts to keep people safe cause mental illness.”
“Meta needs to compensate this brave former host for the damage done to him, but that’s only half the battle,” she says. “We must also be forced to provide real ongoing mental health care and a safe workplace for the tens of thousands of workers who do this work around the world.”
Although Dark’s organization is not involved in the incident, it is helping organize a campaign around working conditions for content moderators and ensuring social media platforms are safe for both users and workers. We appealed to governments around the world to introduce regulations to ensure that
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In 2020, Facebook reached a settlement with a content moderator in the United States who suffered from mental health issues. Last year, a German host demanded better working conditions and was placed on paid leave pending an internal investigation.