A Kenyan judge has ruled against Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in a lawsuit that accuses the company of widespread failings in its safety operations in Africa.
The lawsuit, filed by Daniel Motaung, a former Facebook content moderator for Sama in Kenya, alleges multiple violations of the Kenyan constitution, including union-busting and worker exploitation. These alleged abuses reportedly impacted the platform’s safety efforts targeted towards millions of people across Africa.
Motaung claims he and his colleagues suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder due to exposure to violent images and videos while working on the job. He was unlawfully dismissed after attempting to unionize his colleagues for better pay and working conditions.
Meta’s lawyers had argued that the company was not formally operating in Kenya and thus the country’s legal system lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
However, the judge in Nairobi’s employment and labor relations court ruled that Meta was a “proper party” to the case and that it was susceptible to Kenyan law. Nairobi is the hub for Meta’s outsourced content moderation workforce in sub-Saharan Africa, which covers over a dozen languages spoken in the region.
The lawsuit aims to “force Facebook to reform its exploitative moderation system” and hold it accountable for exploiting content moderators and undermining the safety of millions of Africans.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 8, 2023.
The ruling could also have implications for another major case against Meta in the Kenyan legal system, which accuses the company of failing to prevent hate speech and violence in Ethiopia.