Kenyan Court Gives Meta 21 Days To Resolve Dispute With Content Moderator

Former Chief Justice of the Kenyan Supreme Court, Willy Mutunga, (left) (photo: Twitter @WMutunga)

JAKARTA - On Wednesday, August 23, a Kenyan court order showed that Facebook's parent company, Meta Platform Inc., and content moderators who sued the company for unfair dismissal, were given 21 days to resolve their dispute outside the court.

Content moderators as many as 184 people sued Meta and two subcontractors after they said they lost their jobs with one of the companies, namely Sama, for organizing a union.

The plaintiffs said they were then blacklisted and not allowed to apply for jobs with the same role in the second company, namely Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook replaced the contractor.

"The parties will pursue an out-of-court settlement of this petition through mediation," an order from the Labor and Labor Relations Court, signed by lawyers for plaintiffs, Meta, Sama, and Majorel.

The former chairman of the Kenyan Supreme Court, Willy Mutunga, and Hellen Apiyo, the Commissioner of Manpower who acted as mediators, was mentioned in the order. If the parties fail to resolve the case within 21 days, then the case will proceed before the court.

"We are pleased to enter the mediation phase because we believe that this is in the best interests of all parties to achieve a peaceful settlement," Sama said in a statement.

Majorel's spokesman said the company could not comment on issues involving ongoing litigation. Meanwhile Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the media.

In April, a judge ruled that Meta could be sued by moderators in Kenya, although the company does not have an official presence in the East African country.

This case could have an impact on how Meta works with content moderators globally. The US social media giant works with thousands of moderators around the world, who review graphic content posted on its platform.

In addition, Meta has also been sued in Kenya by a former moderator on allegations of poor working conditions at Sama, as well as by two Ethiopian researchers and a human rights agency, which accuses the company of allowing posts of violence and hatred from Ethiopia to thrive on Facebook. The cases are still ongoing.

In May 2022, in response to the first case, Meta said it required their partners to provide the best conditions in the industry. Regarding the Ethiopian case, they said in December that hate speech and incitement of violence contradicted Facebook and Instagra regulations.