Facebook’s original meta sued by Kenyan content moderators for illegal redundancy
Facebook’s content operators in Kenya are suing the social media site’s parent company Meta and two outsourcing companies for illegal redundancy, a human rights group said on Monday.
43 candidates say they have lost their jobs with Sama, a Kenya-based company contracted to censor Facebook content, for trade unions. They also say they were blacklisted from applying for similar roles at another outsourcing company, Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors.
Last month meta filed an appeal in Kenya challenging the ruling saying they could be sued in a separate lawsuit brought by a moderator over alleged poor working conditions, even though they had no official presence in this East African country.
Lawsuits could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally. The US company works with thousands of moderators around the world, tasked with reviewing graphic content posted on their platforms.
“This is a union dismantling operation disguised as mass layoffs. You cannot switch suppliers and ask employers not to hire your workers because they are ‘disruptors’ – ie. because they have the courage to stand up for themselves,” said Cori Crider of Foxglove, a tech rights group that is supporting the latest lawsuit.
Meta, Majorel and Sama did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In January, 260 content moderators working at Facebook’s moderation center in Nairobi were told they would be fired by Sama, the outsourcing company that’s been running the office since 2019, Foxglove reported. know in a statement.
According to the court complaint, moderators allege Meta instructed Majorel not to hire any moderators previously employed by Sama.
“The redundancy being made is illegal as no good nor good reason is given for the redundancy,” the moderators said in their application.
“The moderator was provided differently and confusing
account for the redundancy that doesn’t add up.”
© Thomson Reuters 2023