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Kenya Court Rules that Meta could be Sued Over Moderator Layoffs
Kenya Court Rules against Meta: A Kenyan court ruled on Friday that Facebook’s parent company Meta could be sued in the East African nation over poor working conditions and layoffs.
This development will likely pave the way for a legal battle in the East African nation.
Kenya Court Rules against Meta
In the previous year, content moderators sued Meta and two contractors, highlighting that they lost their jobs with Sama, a Kenya-based firm contracted to moderate Facebook content.
According to Reuters, they were sacked for trying to organize a union and blacklisted from applying for the same roles at another firm, Majorel, after Facebook changed contractors.
These moderators are demanding compensation for insufficient salaries and damage to their mental health.
A Reuters report revealed the Court of Appeal decision last Friday. The Court upheld an earlier ruling by a Kenyan labor court in April 2023 that Meta could face trial over the moderators’ dismissals, which Meta appealed.
The judges at the Court of Appeal said, “The upshot of our above findings is that the appellants’ (Meta’s) appeals are devoid of merit and both appeals are hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents.”
Also Read: Zuckerberg Admits Meta Cooperated with Government to Censor Citizens Content
Meta Legal Issues In Kenya
Meta previously argued that it is not incorporated in Kenya, only conducting business, and it outsourced its content moderation work via Sama, a U.S.-headquartered company with operations in the East African nation.
Mercy Mutemi, a lawyer for the content moderators, said, “Kenya Court Rules against Meta. Also, Meta being sued in Kenya is a wake-up call for all Big Tech companies.”
“They need to pay attention to the human rights violations taking place along their value chains.”
Meta is also being targeted in another case in Nairobi in which a Kenyan NGO and two Ethiopians accuse the platform of inaction over hate content online.
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