Yes, spending all your days watching atrocities - torture, self-mutilation, beheadings, suicides... - does not leave you unscathed.
Yes, the professional stress inflicted on this worker of a Meta subcontractor responsible for validating or excluding this content from Facebook and Instagram is “
the unique, exclusive and indubitable trigger
” of his severe anxiety, his panic attacks, his isolation at home, his nighttime awakenings, his significant thanatophobia (fear of death)… among other ailments that were diagnosed to him.
No, his consultation with a psychologist eight years before his hiring cannot justify the prior nature of his problems, as his company alleged.
And yes, the judge concluded, the content moderator is indeed the victim of an occupational illness.
A verdict subject to appeal
This is, in essence, the content of the decision of the Barcelona court revealed by the Catalan daily
La Vanguardia,
also author of an in-depth investigation into the harsh working conditions within Meta's local service provider, CCC Barcelona Digital Services, purchased in 2020 by the Canadian group Telus International.
In addition to the plaintiff's testimony, the court relied on the findings of the Labor Inspectorate.
Which had noted that the subcontractor, “
knowing the psychological problems of its workers linked to their activity, was not taking any type of measures
” to remedy them.
The verdict, subject to appeal, recognizes for the first time in Spain that the work stoppage of a moderator is due to his professional activity.