Telus International has placed up to 2,000 workers on paid leave at its content moderation centre in Barcelona, Spain, after losing a major contract with Meta, according to a report from The Globe and Mail citing local unions.
The subsidiary of ‘Big 3’ telecom giant Telus, told workers in an email Thursday that a client had warned of service suspensions starting April 1. Spanish unions CCOO and UGT identified the client as Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram. Telus International started moderation services for Meta back in 2018.
Two employees confirmed to the Globe that the team was handling content moderation for Meta. A Meta spokesperson said the work has been moved to other locations, but claimed content review efforts are not being reduced.
Meta recently scaled back content moderation globally, dropping its U.S. fact-checking program and stopping proactive scans for hate speech, instead reviewing flagged posts only. Mark Zuckerberg’s company is now moving to a Community Notes model, like found on Elon Musk’s X.
Telus said it is supporting workers through negotiations and that its clients are shifting services elsewhere. The layoffs affected multilingual moderators based in the company’s Barcelona office. “Our clients are diversifying their presence and transferring their services to other locations,” said Telus in a statement.
Telus International shares are currently trading at $3.19 per share, down 5.34% on Monday and 18% in the past five days, as part of a global tech sell off due to U.S. tariffs. In the past year, shares are down about 73%. The company went public in 2021 at opened at $40 per share.
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