A former Facebook moderator has sued the company that owns it, Meta Platforms, claiming that terrible working conditions for hired content moderators violate the Kenyan constitution.
The petition, which was also filed against Meta’s local outsourcing company Sama, claims that workers moderating Facebook posts in Kenya have been subjected to unfair working conditions such as irregular pay, insufficient mental health support, union-busting, and violations of their privacy and dignity.
The action, brought by one person on behalf of a group, demands financial compensation, an order requiring outsourced moderators to get the same health care and pay scale as Meta workers, protection of unionisation rights, and an impartial human rights assessment of the office.
“We take our responsibilities to the individuals who evaluate material for Meta seriously,” a Meta representative told Reuters. “We demand our partners to give industry-leading salary, perks, and support.” We also encourage content reviewers to report concerns as soon as they become aware of them, and we perform independent audits on a regular basis to ensure our partners are maintaining the high standards we demand.”
Before reviewing the case, Sama declined to comment, but it has previously dismissed charges that its employees were paid unjustly, that the recruiting process was opaque, or that its mental health benefits were inadequate.
The lawsuit’s particular requests for action are more comprehensive and broad than those requested in past cases, and they may have ramifications beyond Kenya.
“This might have repercussions.” “Facebook is going to have to explain a lot about how they conduct their moderation operation,” Odanga Madung, a fellow at the Mozilla Foundation, a worldwide charity located in the United States focused to internet rights, said.
Thousands of moderators throughout the world examine social media posts that may portray violence, nudity, racism, or other inappropriate content. Many of them work for third-party contractors rather than IT firms.
Meta has already come under fire for the working conditions of its content moderators. Last year, a California judge accepted a $85 million settlement between Facebook and over 10,000 content moderators who claimed the corporation failed to safeguard them from psychological harm caused by their exposure to graphic and violent images.
In the California case, Facebook did not acknowledge guilt but promised to take steps to promote better working conditions for its content moderators, who are hired by third-party vendors.
The Kenyan complaint was brought on behalf of Daniel Motaung, who was hired by Sama in Nairobi in 2019 after being recruited from South Africa. Before his arrival, Motaung claims he was not provided any information regarding the nature of the employment, which involved evaluating Facebook posts.
Motaung remembers moderating a video depicting a beheading. He claims that his remuneration and mental health support were inadequate to deal with the upsetting content.
“I have terrible PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder),” Motaung said to Reuters. “I am living in… a horror film.”
According to Motaung’s attorneys, Meta and Sama created an unsafe and demeaning atmosphere in which workers were not afforded the same safeguards as employees in other nations. “If individuals can’t look at hazardous stuff for two hours in Dublin, that should be the norm worldwide,” said Motaung’s lawyer, Mercy Mutemi. “If a psychologist is needed on call, that should apply everywhere.”
Motaung attempted to create a union shortly after joining Sama to lobby for the company’s roughly 200 Nairobi employees.
Soon after, he was dismissed, which he and his attorneys claim was due to the unionisation attempt. The Kenyan constitution guarantees union rights. Sama has not responded to this accusation.
Motaung’s story was initially uncovered in a Time magazine piece published in February.
