London, Jan 30 (IANS): The third-party, contractual content moderators working for Facebook in Ireland have demanded work-from-home rights just like the company gives to its permanent employees.

According to a report in The Verge, Facebook content moderators in Ireland met with Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday to demand work-from-home rights.

Since December 30, Ireland has been in a lockdown.

"We should be working from home just like employees. We should have the same mental health care they get, the same benefits — but we don't," a Facebook content moderator was quoted as saying in the report.

"Facebook can't exist without us, and it should stop treating us as second-class citizens".

Facebook had announced that employees would be able to work from home until July 2021.

"Two months later, content moderators working for the subcontracting firm CPL in Dublin were told to return to the office", the report said.

A Facebook spokesperson said in a statement that considering some of the most sensitive content needs to be reviewed in the office, "we've worked with our partners to bring reviewers back into some of our sites as government guidance has permitted".

"Our priority for people in any of our offices is their health and safety, which is why we have strict measures in place and work to make sure they're followed."