High-profile lawsuit against Meta can be heard in Kenya, Nairobi court rules

Decision on case of ex-Facebook moderator, who claims the work left him with PTSD, hailed as win for accountability of big tech in Africa

A Kenyan court has ruled that a case brought against Facebook by a former content moderator can go ahead.

Daniel Motaung, who was hired as a Facebook content moderator by the tech firm’s subcontractor Sama in 2019, filed a suit against the two companies last year, alleging that he had been exposed to graphic and traumatic content at work, without adequate prior knowledge or proper psychosocial support – which he says left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also claimed he was unfairly dismissed after trying to unionise his co-workers to fight for better conditions.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, contested its involvement in the case, saying that Sama was Motaung’s employer, and Meta could not be subjected to a hearing in Kenyan courts because it was not registered, and did not operate, in the country.

However, on Monday the judge found that the tech giant was a “proper party” to the case.

The Kenya employment and labour relations court is yet to release its full ruling on Motaung’s case, but the decision – the first of its kind in Africa – is already being hailed as a win for the accountability of big tech on the continent, and in the global south.

“If the attempt by [Meta] to avoid Kenyan justice had succeeded, it would have undermined the fundamental tenets of access to justice and equality under the law in favour of foreign privilege,” said Irũngũ Houghton, executive director of Amnesty International Kenya.

“We finally have an avenue for accountability,” said Odanga Madung, senior researcher for platform integrity at Mozilla. “It calls for tech giants to make serious changes within their companies that take into consideration their workers and users outside the US and Europe.”

Cori Crider, director of Foxglove, a UK tech justice non-profit, which supported the Motaung case, said social media platforms should not outsource critical online safety functions like content moderation. “It is the core function of the business. Without the work of these moderators, social media is unusable. When they are not able to do their jobs safely or well, social media’s safety brutally falters.”

Meta is facing a second court case in Kenya, which was due to be heard this week but has been postponed. It was filed by two Ethiopian petitioners and a Kenyan rights advocacy group, Katiba Institute, who claim that the company failed to take online safety measures to manage hate speech on the platform during northern Ethiopia’s civil war – which they say fanned the conflict, with serious offline consequences.

The father of one of the petitioners was killed after a violent Facebook post that was reported, but not acted on in time. The petitioners claim that Facebook also failed to recruit enough moderation staff to its regional hub in Nairobi.

“There are problems with Facebook’s woeful failure to value or to staff content moderation outside of the English-speaking United States,” said Crider, adding that Monday’s ruling could have global and regional implications on how tech firms think about and manage content moderation.

Leah Kimathi, a convenor for the Council for Responsible Social Media, agrees. “Big tech should not just look at Kenyans as a market, but should be accountable and alive to the nuances, needs and peculiarities of Kenya, especially when it comes to content moderation.”

Facebook has more than 13 million users in Kenya. It and Meta’s WhatsApp are the most commonly used social media platforms in the country.

A nationwide poll conducted in 2022 by the Council for Responsible Social Media showed that 68% of Kenyans who have internet access get their news from social media, and that a majority of these feel that social media platforms could do more to remove harmful content.

Contributor

Caroline Kimeu

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Meta, Google and YouTube ‘profiting’ off posts for bogus women’s health cures in Kenya
Tech firms permit ads for potentially harmful products including vaginal ‘cleanse’ balls and useless herbs for infertility, according to an investigation

Caroline Kimeu in Nairobi

03, Aug, 2023 @5:00 AM

Article image
‘A watershed’: Meta ordered to offer mental health care to moderators in Kenya
Trauma experienced by staff at Nairobi Facebook hub recognised in legal ruling that may have global implications

Caroline Kimeu

07, Jun, 2023 @12:31 PM

Article image
Meta platforms are marketplaces for child predators claims lawsuit
Facebook and Instagram ‘enabled adults to find, message and groom minors’ for sexual exploitation, alleges state of New Mexico legal filing

Katie McQue

07, Dec, 2023 @11:55 AM

Article image
Brazil, Kenya, the US – tech giants are putting democracy in peril the world over | Odanga Madung
Billions of us are due to vote in the next two years as the scourge of online misinformation grows ever worse. It’s time to regulate

Odanga Madung

25, Jan, 2023 @7:15 AM

Article image
CEO regrets her firm took on Facebook moderation work after staff ‘traumatised’
Outsourcer Sama facing legal cases brought by Kenya-based employees alleging exposure to graphic content

Tom Ambrose

16, Aug, 2023 @1:08 PM

Article image
Lawsuit aiming to break up Facebook group Meta can go ahead, US court rules
The Federal Trade Commission wants to force sale of Instagram and WhatsApp

Dan Milmo Global technology editor

12, Jan, 2022 @11:53 AM

Article image
‘If Instagram didn’t exist, it wouldn’t have happened’: a mother’s search for her trafficked daughter
Four years after Robyn Cory’s daughter was groomed at 15 on Meta’s platform and sold for sex by a gang, she is still missing

Katie McQue

02, Feb, 2024 @5:00 PM

Article image
The lawyer whose sex trafficking case against Instagram could spell trouble for big tech
Annie McAdams represents clients who claim Meta’s products connect vulnerable people with sex buyers

Mei-Ling McNamara

10, May, 2023 @12:00 PM

Article image
‘Every chemist has a backroom’: the rise of secret FGM in Kenya
A move away from public ceremonies to ‘medicalised’ cutting is one of the greatest threats to eliminating the abusive practice, say campaigners

Caroline Kimeu

15, Dec, 2022 @6:30 AM

Article image
‘That one I’ve never heard of’: Africans unimpressed with Charles celebrations
The distant familiarity and affection many in the Commonwealth had with the Queen does not extend to her son

Caroline Kimeu in Nairobi

05, May, 2023 @10:38 AM