Moderators can sue Facebook in Kenya, judge rules

A Kenyan judge last week ruled that Facebook’s parent company Meta, could be sued in the East African country after 43 moderators at its Nairobi hub last month filed a lawsuit against the group and its local partner, Sama, for unfair termination. In response, Judge Matthews Nduma issued an interim injunction against Meta and Sama preventing them from terminating the moderators’ contracts, pending a judgment on the legality of their redundancy, says a Reuters report on the Al Jazeera site. ‘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. The 184 moderators in the petition said they were fired in retaliation for complaints about working conditions and attempts to form a union. The moderators have said they were blacklisted from applying for the same roles at another outsourcing firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Facebook switched contractors. In February, a Kenyan labour court ruled that Meta could be sued there after one former moderator at the Nairobi hub filed a lawsuit against it, alleging poor working conditions.