Efe Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Thursday, January 18, 2024-7:21 p.m.

A court in Barcelona has blamed

a company subcontracted in Spain by Meta - owner of Instagram or Facebook -

for the mental health disorders suffered by a content filter on social networks, in charge of reviewing publications considered inappropriate.

The social court number 28 of Barcelona has concluded that the mental health problems of the young man, who worked as a content filterer for CCC Barcelona Digital Services SL between 2018 and 2020, are a work accident and not a common illness, as maintained. the company itself.

The company has been providing its moderation services to Meta since 2018, and was acquired in 2020 by the Canadian group Telus Internacional.

The sentence, advanced by La Vanguardia and to which EFE has had access, emphasizes that, as the affected person and the National Social Security Institute (INSS) maintained,

"work stress is the sole, exclusive and undoubted trigger" of his mental health problems.

The content moderator was in the high priority section, where he had to repeatedly watch "content relating to terrorism and suicides, self-mutilations, beheadings of civilians killed by terrorist groups, torture."

The head of the court considers it proven that this type of work, according to scientific literature, generates

"psychosocial risk",

since it involves exposing oneself "to violence, crime, abuse and illegal content", which is why it can be "a source of stress which can cause psychological damage and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Furthermore, the document indicates that these types of workers are also under high pressure due to the large amount of work they have to face.

The judge also indicates that the Labor Inspection, with a report on April 30, 2021, opened

a sanctioning process against the company

, "as the company had not taken any type of measure, being aware of the psychological problems of its workers in relation to to their work activity".

"The work stress that he has been suffering is the triggering factor for the sick leave in question," states the ruling, against which an appeal is possible, which also indicates that "other causal factors that could have been determined are not recorded, nor have they been identified." the aforementioned temporary disability.

For his part, the lawyer of the affected worker, Francesc Feliu, from the law firm Espacio Jurídico Feliu Fins, has shown, in statements to EFE, his satisfaction with the sentence, considering that it recognizes "the importance that mental illnesses must have."

"What the company defended was that you came with this as standard, or that all the psychological pathology that the worker suffered cannot be attributed exclusively to the work," he denounced.

Furthermore, he recalled that these types of employees are exposed to violent and sadistic content on a "continuous and recurring" basis.