Social media giant Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has failed to stop a Kenyan court from hearing a case that alleges poor working conditions at the company.

A judge in Kenya ruled that the Facebook’s parent company, Meta, can be sued in the East African country.

Meta tried to have the case dismissed, arguing that Kenyan courts do not have jurisdiction over their operations, because Meta is not domiciled in, nor does it trade from, Kenya but the labor court judge dismissed that in a ruling on Monday, February 6, 2023.

A former Facebook moderator in Kenya, Daniel Motaung, is suing the company claiming poor working conditions.

Motaung claimed that while working as a moderator, he was exposed to gruesome content such as rape, torture, and beheadings that risked his and his colleagues’ mental health.

Motaung said that Meta did not offer mental health support to employees, required unreasonably long working hours, and offered minimal pay. Motaung worked in Facebook’s African hub in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, which is operated by Samasource Ltd.

Former content moderator revealed that he was paid about $2.20 (£1.80) per hour to review posts including beheadings and child abuse.

The toll of the work left Motaung with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He alleges that he was fired after pushing to form a union to advocate for better working conditions.

According to Foxglove, a London-based legal NGO that is supporting Motaung, the aim of the lawsuit is to “force Facebook to reform its exploitative moderation system, which has hurt Kenyan workers and undermined the safety of millions of Kenyan and other Africans.”

Following the judge’s decision that Meta can be sued in Kenya, the next step in the case will be considered by the court on March 8, 2023.

Historic And Globally Significant Decision

Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya, Irungu Houghton, has labelled the ruling as “not just historic but globally significant.”

Houghton opined in a statement that the court’s decision enhances the protection of fundamental human rights.

“This is a significant step that ensures the authority of Kenyan courts to protect and enforce fundamental human rights … The social media platforms have serious impacts on people’s lives and societies. They must be more accountable.”
Irungu Houghton, Executive Director of Amnesty International Kenya

Houghton noted, “This could be the first time that Meta has been brought under a court of law in the global south.”

Additionally, Amnesty International Kenya Chief stated that it will also open the door for “content moderators to be protected in a court of law in the countries in which they live”.

Meta faces a separate case in Kenya that alleges Facebook’s algorithm helped to fuel the viral spread of hate and violence during Ethiopia’s civil war.

Two Ethiopians claimed that hate speech was allowed and even promoted on Facebook amid heated rhetoric over their country’s deadly Tigray conflict.

Abraham Meareg, the son of an Ethiopian academic shot dead after being attacked in Facebook posts, is among those bringing the case against Meta.

They want a $2bn (£1.6bn) fund for victims of hate on Facebook, and changes to the platform’s algorithm.

That lawsuit alleges that Meta has not hired enough content moderators to adequately monitor posts, that it uses an algorithm that prioritizes hateful content, and that it responds more slowly to crises in Africa than elsewhere in the world.

Last year, more than a dozen other media outlets reported that Facebook had failed to quickly and effectively moderate hate speech in several places around the world, including in Ethiopia.

The reports were based on internal Facebook documents leaked by former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen.

However, Meta said that it invested heavily in moderation and technology to remove hate.