A former content moderator who spent three years reviewing graphic and violent media for Facebook in Barcelona died by suicide last weekend in Lyon, France, according to reports from eldiario.es and El Periódico.
The woman, whose identity has not been publicly released, was employed between 2022 and 2025 by Telus, a subcontractor hired by Meta to oversee content moderation operations at the Torre Glòries in Barcelona. Robert Castro, a legal adviser representing the deceased, confirmed to eldiario.es that she suffered from severe mental health consequences directly linked to her exposure to extreme violence on the job. She had previously attempted to take her life in 2023 while still working in the Catalan capital. Family members of the deceased explained that she is originally from Lyon and had been residing there for a few months. Following her previous suicide attempt in 2023, the worker spent a period on sick leave and in 2025 requested to terminate her employment due to the psychological consequences she carried, ultimately resigning in exchange for a meager severance package.
Before her death, the former moderator was actively reviewing options to join a massive collective lawsuit filed in Barcelona’s social courts. El Periódico reported that the litigation involves approximately 700 former employees seeking damages from both Meta and Telus for psychological trauma.
A Tech Showcase Turns to Labor Conflict
When Meta, then operating as Facebook, announced its arrival at the landmark Torre Glòries in May 2018, political and economic authorities hailed the move as a major technological investment. The reality inside the offices, however, soon devolved into severe labor disputes. ElPeriódico reported that up to 25% of the 2,000 workers employed at the facility were on medical leave at times due to psychiatric disorders stemming from their duties. Since Meta announced its arrival in Barcelona in May 2018, the tech giant led by Mark Zuckerberg has been surrounded by multiple scandals over mental damages suffered by employees of its subcontractor, CCC Barcelona Digital Services, owned by the Canadian group Telus International.
Content moderators were routinely exposed to graphic material including murders, sexual assaults, suicides, and animal cruelty. Legal representatives and court filings have detailed conditions that former employees described as “absolutely inhuman, indecent and completely unbearable for any human being.”
In 2024, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) reinforced the link between the work and psychological deterioration by ratifying a lower court ruling that classified a content moderator’s mental health disorder as a workplace accident due to the “extreme violence” filtered daily.
Telus Faces Lawsuits After Dismissing 2,000 Workers
Telus abruptly ended its content moderation operations at the Torre Glòries in May 2025, resulting in the dismissal of approximately 2,000 workers. Despite the closure and departure from Barcelona, the company continues to face a cascade of lawsuits in social and criminal courts.
Legal actions began mounting in October 2023, when a group of employees filed initial complaints citing insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide attempts. By February 2024, a Barcelona court admitted the first criminal complaint filed by a 26-year-old former employee who fell ill after reviewing violent platform content.
The litigation targets both Telus and Meta over allegations of inadequate psychological support and discriminatory pay practices. Legal teams representing former staff argue that the companies treated workers as disposable objects to be replaced upon falling ill or resigning. In January 2025, another moderator filed a complaint against Telus and Meta. Later, in June of last year, 29 more former employees filed a complaint against the firm and the tech giant, and the law firm Bastet Advocats represents hundreds of workers in one of the proceedings.
Family members of the deceased moderator are now in contact with the legal firm Bastet Advocats to determine further steps and potential accountability measures against Telus, as proceedings in the Barcelona courts continue.
