Meta has been at the center of countless controversies for years, from its handling of user data to its role in spreading misinformation and disinformation. But the latest legal troubles involving content moderators in Africa point to a different kind of problem: the exploitation of vulnerable workers in the South.
Earlier this week, a Kenyan court issued a preliminary injunction. This injunction prevents Meta from hiring its new content moderation subcontractor, Majorel. So it remains in effect pending the hearing of a new case filed by 43 content moderators. The moderators claim illegal dismissal and blacklist. The court also barred Meta’s outgoing content moderation partner, Sama, from executing any form of dismissal.
The temporary ban prevents Meta from engaging content moderators in Kenya through Majorel or any other agent, partner or representative. Meanwhile, Sama will continue to provide exclusive content rating services to Meta until the court’s decision.
According to the moderators’ petition, Sama failed to comply with Kenyan law by not issuing layoff notices to her employees before shutting down her content review department in January. The moderators also claim that they were not given 30 days’ notice and that their dues were tied to signing non-disclosure documents.
Sama denies any wrongdoing and says it communicated its decision to end content moderation to affected employees through a town hall, email and notice letters. However, the moderators allege “illegitimate dismissal” by Sama and discrimination by Majorel, who they say blacklisted all of Sama’s former employees. Moderators applying for jobs at Majorel were reportedly turned down due to their previous employment at Sama’s facility.
The Kenyan court also banned Meta and Majorel from blacklisting qualified content moderators because they previously worked at Sama.
The lawsuit follows an earlier lawsuit in which a former employee sued Sama and Meta for union fraud, exposing the unhealthy working conditions moderators face in order to make social sites like Facebook less toxic. Now that the court order is in effect, Meta will have to navigate the region’s content moderation landscape with Sama’s support while awaiting the court’s decision.
The more concerning problem is that Meta seems to be building an unpleasant pattern. The current lawsuit is the third facing Meta in Kenya, after another case was filed in December by Ethiopians over claims the social media giant had taken insufficient security measures on Facebook, which in turn fueled the conflicts that led to deaths, including the father of one of the petitioners, and 500,000 Ethiopians during the Tigray War that ended late last year.
Meta’s ordeal is just the latest installment of a bigger problem: unethical firings. Several tech companies in Africa have flouted labor laws and made unethical layoffs. For example, Twitter at the end of last year dozens of workers laid off of the newly established Africa Headquarters in Ghana without adequate notice or compensation.
The problem of unethical layoffs is not unique to African countries, but it is particularly problematic in the region due to weaker employment protections and fewer resources for workers to seek redress. So, as the case of Meta in Kenya unfolds, it is also a striking call for African countries to strengthen worker protection policies.
