Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has filed an appeal in Kenya, challenging a ruling that stated the company could be sued in the East African country despite having no official presence there.
After a former content moderator filed a lawsuit alleging poor working conditions, a Kenyan labour court ruled earlier this month that Meta could be sued in the country. In the appeal, which Reuters obtained on Tuesday, the US company disputed the court’s finding that Kenyan courts had jurisdiction.
Sama, a U.S.-based company with operations in Kenya, handled Meta’s content moderation. Sama announced last month that it would no longer provide Meta’s content moderation services.
Former content moderator Daniel Motaung filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of former Sama employees. It seeks monetary compensation, an order requiring that outsourced moderators receive the same healthcare and pay scale as Meta employees, protection of unionisation rights, and an independent human rights audit of the office.