After a case filed last month by 43 moderators at Facebook’s Nairobi hub against the business and its local partner Sama for wrongful termination, a Kenyan judge on Thursday decided that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, may be sued in Kenya.
Judge Matthews Nduma responded by issuing a temporary injunction against Meta and Sama, preventing them from terminating the contracts of the moderators until a decision was made regarding the legitimacy of their redundancy.
“The court finds that this court has jurisdiction to determine the matter of alleged unlawful and unfair termination of employment on grounds of redundancy,” Nduma said on Thursday.
The moderators in the petition — who are now 184 in number, claim they were fired in retaliation for complaints about working conditions and attempts to form a union.
“I do this work because I believe in protecting people,” said Juanita Jones, a moderator on the petition.
“Moderation is the frontline defence of the internet—and it is time to value the work like it, not treat it as some disposable, dead-end job,” Jones said.
As Facebook moved contractors, the moderators claim they were barred from applying for the same positions at another outsourcing company, Luxembourg-based Majorel.
Requests for comments on Thursday were not immediately answered by Meta, Sama, or Majorel.
After one former moderator at the Nairobi hub filed a case against Meta, alleging bad working conditions, a Kenyan labour court decided in February that Meta could be sued there.
The cases might affect how Meta collaborates with content moderators around the world. The American giant collaborates with tens of thousands of moderators who are entrusted with screening explicit material uploaded to its site.