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American social media giant Meta yesterday suffered a major setback in Kenya after the labour court declined to drop a case by a former content moderator in Nairobi over alleged exploitation and poor working conditions.

Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), the owner of Facebook, wanted the case dismissed, arguing that it cannot be tried in Kenya and that the local Employment and Labour Relations Court has no jurisdiction to hear the suit.

The case was lodged by Daniel Motaung’ against Facebook and  Samasource Kenya EPZ, the main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, who alleges exploitation and union busting.

But Justice Jacob Gakeri declined to strike out the suit, in which the social media company is accused of failing to provide content moderators based in its Nairobi hub with adequate psychosocial support after exposing them to graphic content.

In his ruling, Justice Gakeri recognised that Facebook is not registered in Kenya but maintained that it can be sued in the country.

Respond to the claims

The judge, however, granted  Motaung’ more time to furnish Meta with court papers to enable it to respond to the claims.

At the same time, the judge gagged the petitioner against prosecuting the suit in public or on other forums.

“The orders not to prosecute the matter in other forums are still in force,” judge Gakeri stated.

He further directed the case to be mentioned on March 8, 2023, to confirm compliance of service to Meta and for further directions on how the case would proceed to a hearing.

Meta had argued that it should not be sued in Kenya since the petitioner had been contracted by a third party, Samasource Kenya EPZ, which had been outsourced for content moderation services on Facebook.

The international social media firm had stated that the suit was incompetent, bad in law and unsustainable.

Through lawyer Fred Ojiambo, the company argued that Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, which are listed as respondents in the suit, are foreign corporations (not domiciled or trading in Kenya) and that the Kenyan High Court has no authority over them.

Mental wellbeing

In October last year, the petitioner alleged failure to cater for the mental well-being of employees and poor working conditions. He claimed that he was sacked in 2019 after questioning the working conditions of the employees based in Nairobi. 

He adds that he was exposed to graphic content that affected him mentally.

The firm was sued alongside its local outsourcing agent Samasource Kenya EPZ Limited (Sama), a company registered in the United States.

“Sama and Meta acted negligently by failing to provide adequate precautions for the safety, health and wellbeing of Facebook Content Moderators and exposing them to risk, danger and injury, of which they were aware,” he said in court papers.

Meta also owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

In his petition, Motaung’ is seeking financial compensation for himself and other former and existing moderators.

He also wants Sama and Meta compelled to stop union busting and provide mental health support.