More than 2,000 Meta content moderators lose their jobs

More than 2,000 employees who moderate content on social networks for Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) in Barcelona (Spain) have received notices of termination of their contracts, marking one of the largest layoffs in the field of digital content moderation in Europe.

According to the Spanish CCOO union, this is the result of Meta suddenly canceling its cooperation contract with Telus International - a Canadian technology company operating in Barcelona under the trading name Barcelona Digital Services.

Telus has been a partner with Meta since 2018 in the field of moderation and handling harmful content on social networks. In total, 2,059 employees will be affected by this decision, mainly those directly involved in reviewing, evaluating and removing content that violates community standards.

Telus did not provide a specific number of people who would lose their jobs, but said it would provide maximum support to affected employees, including the opportunity to relocate to other positions. CCOO and another Spanish union, UGT, also signed a preliminary agreement to ensure “the highest possible level of legal compensation” for workers, and said the layoffs would take place between May and September.

In April, Meta announced changes to its moderation policy, stopping proactively reviewing content that violates the law, such as hate speech, and only intervening when users report it. In particular, the company announced that it would remove independent fact-checking organizations in the United States, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused of being “too politically biased” and “causing distrust rather than building trust.”

Meta affirmed that the termination of the contract with Telus does not mean that the company has reduced its ability to censor content posted on its online platforms./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/hon-2000-nhan-vien-kiem-duyet-noi-dung-cho-meta-mat-viec-post1036891.vnp