Canadian tech firm Telus International has terminated the contracts of over 2,000 content moderators in Barcelona following Meta’s decision to cancel its agreement with the company, according to Spanish labor union CCOO.
The job cuts affect precisely 2,059 employees who were responsible for reviewing content across Facebook and Instagram platforms, union officials said Monday. Telus, which operates locally as Barcelona Digital Services, has provided content moderation services for Meta since 2018.
During a Monday morning meeting, Telus informed workers it had terminated the contracts “of all workers who were performing content moderation tasks” for Meta, the union stated. The layoffs come amid Meta’s broader strategic shift in content moderation practices.
When contacted by reporters, a Telus spokesperson declined to confirm the exact number of job losses, emphasizing that “the priority remains to support the team members affected” by providing “full assistance, including relocation opportunities for as many people as possible.”
The union has signed a preliminary agreement with Telus that will reportedly secure “the highest possible legal compensation” for the affected workers. The redundancy plan was implemented after Meta terminated its contract with Telus.
Meta’s decision to end its relationship with the Barcelona-based contractor reflects a larger overhaul of the company’s content moderation strategy. The tech giant has invested billions in content moderation over the years, employing thousands of moderators globally to police sensitive content on its platforms.
The Barcelona team had been responsible for content moderation in multiple languages, including Catalan, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Portuguese, and Spanish, according to people familiar with the operation who spoke on condition of anonymity due to non-disclosure agreements.
This restructuring follows Meta’s recent changes to its content policies in the United States. Following President Donald Trump’s election in January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would replace its U.S.-based third-party fact-checking program with a system of community notes similar to those used by X (formerly Twitter).
Zuckerberg said “fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created, especially in the US.” The company has also stated it will stop proactively scanning for hate speech and other rule violations, instead reviewing such content only when reported by users.
Industry experts have raised concerns about how fewer human moderators might impact the spread of harmful content across Meta’s platforms. The Barcelona job cuts represent one of the largest single reductions in content moderation staff in recent years.
The layoffs will significantly impact the local labor market in Barcelona, a city that has positioned itself as an emerging European tech hub. Union representatives from CCOO and UGT have criticized the decision, describing it as a “dismissal by stealth” and expressing concern about growing job insecurity in the tech sector.
