A Kenyan judge said on Friday that Facebook’s parent firm Meta may face legal action in the country due to a contractor’s termination of several content moderators.
TakeAway Points:
- A Kenyan judge decided that Facebook’s parent company Meta would face legal action in the country due to a contractor’s termination of numerous content moderators.
- This was as a result of content moderators who lost their jobs with Sama, a Kenya-based firm contracted to moderate Facebook content, for trying to organise a union.
- Meta being sued in Kenya is a wake-up call for all Big Tech companies to pay attention to the human rights violations taking place along their value chains.
- The social networking platform X, which is owned by Elon Musk, has designated a legal representative in Brazil, according to a statement made by the company’s attorneys on Friday.
Meta to be sued in Kenya
Last year the content moderators sued Meta and two contractors, saying they lost their jobs with Sama, a Kenya-based firm contracted to moderate Facebook content, for trying to organise a union.
They said they were then blocklisted from applying for the same roles at another firm, Majorel, after Facebook changed contractors.
Out-of-court settlement talks between the moderators and Meta collapsed in October last year.
The case could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally. The U.S. giant works with moderators around the world tasked with reviewing graphic content posted on its platform.
Friday’s decision by the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling by a Kenyan labour court in April 2023 that Meta could face trial over the moderators’ dismissals, which Meta appealed.
It also upheld a separate ruling in February 2023 that Meta could be sued in Kenya over alleged poor working conditions, which Meta also appealed.
“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.
Meta has previously responded to allegations of a poor working environment in Kenya by saying it requires partners to provide industry-leading conditions.
“Meta being sued in Kenya is a wake-up call for all Big Tech companies to pay attention to the human rights violations taking place along their value chains,” said Mercy Mutemi, a lawyer for the content moderators.
Foxglove, a British tech rights group supporting the moderators’ case, said Meta had run out of road.
“We are excited the roadblocks are finally gone and will support the 185 (contractors) every step of the road to the courtroom,” Foxglove director Martha Dark said.
X names Brazil legal representative amid ban
Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has named a legal representative in Brazil, the firm’s lawyers said on Friday, in a move that would address one of the demands imposed by Brazil’s top court to allow the company to operate in the country.
Andre Zonaro and Sergio Rosenthal, who were recently appointed as X’s lawyers in Brazil, told Reuters that colleague Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao was chosen as the firm’s legal representative and that they had submitted her name to the Supreme Court.
Brazilian law requires foreign companies to name a legal representative to operate in the country. The representative would assume the legal responsibilities for the firm locally.
X had a legal representative in Brazil until mid-August, when it decided to close its offices in the country.
In late August, Brazil’s top court ordered mobile and internet service providers to block X in the nation, and users were cut off within hours after X did not name a new legal representative.
The move followed a months-long dispute between Musk and Brazilian Justice Alexandre de Moraes over the firm’s non-compliance with court orders demanding the platform take action against the spread of hate speech.
Courts have previously blocked accounts implicated in probes of spreading misinformation and hate, which Musk has denounced as censorship.
On Thursday, the lawyers representing X in Brazil said the firm was starting to comply with orders on removing content, another demand from the top court.
