Global social media giant Meta has been dragged to a Kenyan Court over an alleged poor work environment in a local firm it hired to monitor its Facebook.
The petition filed against a local outsourcing firm Samasource Kenya EPZ alleges that staff moderating content on Facebook are subjected to unfavourable working conditions such as poor pay, inadequate mental health support and violations of privacy.
The court will determine if Meta can be tried in Kenya since the 12 petitioners were working for a third-party firm which it had outsourced for moderation services.
In June, Meta made an application seeking to have the case dismissed, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction to determine it since the company is not based in Kenya.
Daniel Motaung’ is seeking financial compensation on behalf of current and former employees.
Motaung’ also wants Meta and Sama to provide mental health support for moderators who spend hours reviewing explicit content.
Meta has denied wrongdoing saying it takes seriously its responsibility to people who review content for the firm.
According to court papers, Sama hosts the largest content moderation location in Africa with more than 200 staff.
Two years ago, Facebook agreed to pay $52million to content moderators based in the US after they filed a class-action lawsuit for being exposed repeatedly to graphic content such as animal cruelty, decapitation, child and sexual abuse, and terrorism.