Meta in Legal Trouble in Kenya Over Moderator Layoffs
A Kenyan court concluded on Friday that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, could be sued in the East African country for the layoff of dozens of content moderators by a contractor.
Newsng gathered that the content moderators sued Meta and two local contractors last year, claiming that their employment with Sama, a Kenya-based company hired to oversee Facebook content, was terminated as a result of their union organisation.
They claimed that after Facebook switched contractors, they were banned from applying for the same positions at Majorel, another company.
The talks for an out-of-court settlement broke down in October of last year.
The Court of Appeal’s order on Friday confirmed a labour court’s decision from April 2023 in Kenya, which had declared that Meta could go to trial regarding the moderators’ dismissals. Meta had challenged this decision.
It also upheld a different decision from February 2023 that allowed Meta to be sued in Kenya for allegedly subpar working conditions; Meta had appealed the decision.
“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,” the judges at the Court of Appeal said in their ruling.
We earlier reported that Agritech logistics company Twiga Foods, based in Kenya, has stated that 59 employees will be let go in a new round of layoffs.
This change is part of a larger plan implemented by Charles Ballard, the new CEO who assumed leadership in May 2024.
