Facebook Content Moderator In Kenya Sues Meta And Two Outsourcing Companies For Illegal Layoffs

The Foxglove illustration that sued Meta. (photo: twitter @Foxglovelegal)

JAKARTA - The Facebook content moderator in Kenya sued the social media site's parent company, Meta PLATFORM inNC., and two outsourced companies for illegal layoffs (PHK), a human rights group said on Monday, March 20.

A total of 43 applicants said they lost their jobs with Sama, a Kenyan-based company contracted to moderate Facebook content, for organizing a union. They also said that they had poor records and could not apply for jobs to other outsourced companies, namely Majorel, after Facebook changed contractors.

Last month, Meta filed an appeal in Kenya challenging a ruling stating that the company could be brought to court in a separate lawsuit filed by moderators over poor working conditions, although it does not have an official presence in the East African country.

These court cases could have an impact on how Meta works with content moderators around the world. The United States company works with thousands of moderators worldwide, tasked with reviewing graphic content posted on its platform.

"This is a masked dismissal operation as a mass layoff. You can't just switch to other suppliers and tell recruiters not to recruit your workers because they are'misleaders' - that is, because they have the courage to fight for their own rights," said Foxglovey's Cori Crider, a technology rights group supporting this latest lawsuit.

Meta, Majorel and Sama did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters on the report.

In January, 260 content moderators working at Facebook's moderation center in Nairobi were told they would be fired by Sama, the outsourced company that has been running the office since 2019, Foxglove said in a statement.

The moderators accuse Meta of ordering Majorel not to recruit moderators who previously worked at Sama, according to a court petition.

"The termination of employment is invalid because there is no honest and reasonable reason given for the termination of the employment relationship," the moderators in the application said. "The moderators have been given different and confusing explanations for unreasonable termination of employment."