Kenyan judge temporarily blocks mass layoff of Facebook moderators
21/03/2023 17:25
NAIROBI, March 21 (Reuters) - A Kenyan judge on Tuesday
temporarily blocked the mass redundancy of some 260 Facebook
content moderators working for an outsourcing company contracted
by the social media site's parent company Meta META.O , court
documents show.
Judge Matthews Nduma issued an interim injunction against
Meta and the Kenya-based outsourcing firm Sama, preventing them
from terminating the content moderators' contracts at the end of
March, pending a judgement on the legality of their redundancy.
Last week 43 moderators at Facebook's Nairobi moderation hub
filed a lawsuit against the social media company and Sama for
unlawful redundancy.
The 43 applicants say they lost their jobs with Sama for
organising a union. They also say they were blacklisted from
applying for the same roles at another outsourcing firm,
Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors.
On Monday Sama said it had not been served notice of the
lawsuit, but that it had followed Kenyan law in every aspect and
often gone above and beyond what was required. It said it was
discontinuing the content-moderation side of its business.
Meta, Majorel and Sama did not immediately respond to
requests for comment on the temporary injunction.
Nduma also temporarily barred Meta from subcontracting the
roles of the workers who moderate Facebook content for eastern
and southern Africa.
Last month Meta filed an appeal in Kenya challenging a
ruling which said it could be sued in a separate lawsuit brought
by a moderator over alleged poor working conditions, even though
it has no official presence in the east African country.
The court cases could have implications for how Meta works
with content moderators globally. The U.S. company works with
thousands of moderators around the world, tasked with reviewing
graphic content posted on its platform.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross and Hereward Holland; Writing by
Hereward Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler)
((hereward.holland@thomsonreuters.com; +254 20 499 1232;
Reuters Messaging:
hereward.holland.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))