NAIROBI, March 20 (Reuters) - Facebook content
moderators in Kenya are suing the social media site's parent
company Meta and two outsourcing companies for unlawful
redundancy, a rights group said on Monday.
The 43 applicants say they lost their jobs with Sama, a
Kenya-based firm contracted to moderate Facebook content, for
organising a union. They also say they were blacklisted from
applying for the same roles at another outsourcing firm,
Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors.
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.
"This is a union-busting operation masquerading as a mass
redundancy. You can't just switch suppliers and tell recruiters
not to hire your workers because they are 'troublemakers' – that
is, because they have the temerity to stand up for themselves,"
said Cori Crider from Foxglove, a technology rights group which
is supporting the latest lawsuit.
Meta, Majorel and Sama did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
In January, 260 content moderators working at Facebook's
moderation hub in Nairobi were told they would be made redundant
by Sama, the outsourcing firm which has run the office since
2019, Foxglove said in a statement.
The moderators accuse Meta of instructing Majorel not to
hire any moderators previously employed by Sama, according to
the court petition.
"The redundancy being undertaken is unlawful because no
genuine nor justifiable reason was given for the redundancy,"
the moderators said in their application.
"The moderators have been given varying and confusing
explanations for the redundancy which do not add up."
(Reporting by Aaron Ross and Ayenat Mersie; Writing by Hereward
Holland, editing by Ed Osmond)
Reuters Messaging:
hereward.holland.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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