The investigative court number 29 of Barcelona has accepted for processing the complaint of a former employee of Meta's subcontractor in Spain for the serious mental disorders he developed as a result of his work filtering atrocities on Facebook and Instagram. It is the first time that a criminal process has been opened against a company linked to Meta in Europe. Until now, the complaints had been limited to the workplace.
A report by La Vanguardia in October uncovered the enormous mental health crisis that is hitting the staff of CCC Barcelona Digital Services, with offices in the Glòries tower in Barcelona, which is dedicated to moderating content (filtering the videos, images and texts that are publish and those who do not) on Mark Zuckerberg's social networks. Acquired four years ago by the Canadian group Telus International, CCC has about two thousand employees, of which between 20 and 25% are on sick leave, with a majority incidence of psychiatric disorders.
In that article from four months ago it was reported that the former employee P.S., a 26-year-old Brazilian who has recently managed to have another court in Barcelona recognize his illness as a work-related accident, had decided to file a criminal complaint against the company. La Vanguardia has interviewed fifteen Facebook and Instagram content moderators, who recounted the atrocities they had to see during their work days, in changing morning, afternoon or night shifts. They had a wellness area in the Glòries Tower offices with psychological assistance that everyone considered insufficient for the type of images they had to see.
In an order dated February 12, Judge Santiago García admits the complaint against CCC and Telus International, as well as against six of their directors. However, it refuses to include Facebook Spain SL, as requested in the lawsuit, considering that the subsidiary in Madrid has "no relationship with CCC or Telus, nor with the activity of the complainant", since it is dedicated solely to managing online advertising. for the Zuckerberg matrix.
That is why the next step that the complainant's lawyer, Francesc Feliu, from the law firm Espacio Jurídico Feliu Fins, intends to take is to request that the complaint be expanded against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, the European headquarters of Meta in Ireland, which operates the platforms.
The lawsuit, for damages, accuses the defendants of crimes against workers' rights, injuries due to serious negligence and against moral integrity. The defendants are José M., David P., Ahmed M., Pedro M., Tiago Q. and Eriton S.
The complaint requested civil liability compensation of 150,000 euros from the defendants as “directly liable”, and from CCC, Telus and Facebook Spain, as “joint and severally liable and/or subsidiary”.
In his resolution, Judge García agreed to summon the defendants for questioning, as well as the complainant and the company's personnel representative.
Feliu also represents 25 other CCC content moderators who suffer from mental pathologies, in some cases similar to those of P.S. This group plans to present in the coming days a collective complaint against CCC and Telus in terms similar to the one that has now been admitted for processing.
In Ireland, where Meta has its European headquarters, at least 35 moderators have filed claims for damages before the High Court, although these cases follow the civil route, and not the criminal one as now in Barcelona. Some CCC employees in Barcelona are included in that procedure, as Irish lawyer Diane Treanor, from the Coleman Legal firm, explained to this newspaper.
In 2020, Facebook was forced to compensate more than 11,000 moderators who had filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States with $52 million.
