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Meta's contractor, Canada-based Telus ( TU ), cuts jobs in

Barcelona

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Telus ( TU ), Meta said would continue operations elsewhere

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Team in Barcelona moderated content in several languages

(Adds comments from Telus ( TU ) in paragraphs 2 and 4)

By Inti Landauro

MADRID/BARCELONA, April 4 (Reuters) - Canadian-based

tech company Telus ( TU ) sent home as many as 2,000 people

from its content moderation centre in Barcelona after Facebook

owner Meta Platforms ( META ) severed its contract, local unions

CCOO and UGT said.

The company - operating locally as CCC Barcelona Digital

Services - emailed its workers on Thursday placing them on

gardening leave saying a client warned on April 1 it would

suspended services.

The email, which Reuters had access to, did not specify who

the client was, but UGT and CCOO said Telus' ( TU ) client was Meta.

One former and one current employee, who requested anonymity

as they signed non-disclosure agreements, said the team was

moderating content for Meta.

"Our clients are diversifying their presence and

transferring their services to other locations," Telus ( TU ) said,

adding the contract continued. The company will provide support

to all the affected team members during negotiations with the

unions.

A Meta spokesperson said the company has moved the services

that were being performed from Barcelona to other locations and

the company is not reducing its content review efforts.

Meta invested billions and hired thousands of content

moderators globally over the years to police sensitive content,

but in January it scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programme,

following the election of President Donald Trump.

It also said it will stop proactively scanning for hate

speech and other types of rule-breaking, reviewing such posts

only in response to user reports.

Employees were placed on leave, with full salaries but no

work to carry out, while Telus ( TU ) negotiates severance with unions,

the email sent to workers said.

The company suspended its operations at noon on Thursday and

asked employees at work to leave the office, located in

Barcelona's landmark Glories tower downtown.

The team in Barcelona included content moderation services

in Catalan, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Portuguese and Spanish,

according to the former employee.

Other content moderation centres in countries such as

Bulgaria, Colombia and Portugal that used to collaborate with

the staff in Barcelona, the current employee said, although a

Telus ( TU ) spokesperson said some of these centres are run by other

companies.