01/19/2024 – 12:22
The Spanish Court ruled that a worker's mental health was harmed by his job as a content moderator on social networks. The employee, who worked between 2018 and 2020, had access to graphic images of decapitations, for example. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company is “not a party to the case in question.”
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The court, located in Barcelona, upheld a decision by Spain's social security agency and said that the subcontracted moderator's psychiatric treatment was a consequence of his work, meaning he will receive a higher amount of compensation for medical leave.
The moderator worked between 2018 and 2020 at CCC Barcelona Digital Services, a member of Telus International, which is one of the outsourced suppliers of Facebook's owner, Meta. Telus announced that it will appeal the decision.
The worker was forced to watch videos that included “self-mutilation, decapitation of civilians murdered by terrorist groups, torture against people and suicides,” the court said.
The CCC filed the lawsuit in 2022, to try to reverse a decision by the social security agency, which had said the moderator's deteriorating mental health was a result of his work. But on January 12, in a decision accessed by Reuters, judge Jesus Fuertes rejected the request.
“The worker suffered from a situation of great emotional and psychological impact on his work,” he wrote, adding that the medical leave, which occurred in 2019, was “exclusively and undoubtedly” caused by his job.
The employee's inability to work was due to severe anxiety, including panic attacks, isolation, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and thanatophobia (fear of death), the decision said.
In 2020, Facebook reached a settlement with North American moderators who suffered from mental health problems. Last year, a moderator in Germany was placed on paid leave after asking for improved working conditions.
With Reuters.
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