43 Kenyan Facebook moderators accuse Meta of unfair dismissal

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Late on Monday, 43 Kenya-based Facebook moderators who were fired in January announced that they will be suing Meta, the social media platform's parent company, for their allegedly unfair dismissal.

The moderators were employed by Sama, a Kenyan-based firm contracted by Facebook for content moderation.

In a statement, the Facebook moderators said that the "redundancy being undertaken is unlawful because no genuine nor justifiable reason was given for the redundancy."

Sama told 260 Facebook content moderators based in Nairobi in January that their jobs had been deemed redundant and proceeded to fire and blacklist them.

Meta, which is yet to comment on the matter, has outsourced services from Sama since 2019, Anadolu reached out to the regional offices in Nairobi for comment but received no immediate response.

In December 2022, Meta in Kenya was sued for $2 billion for fueling ethnic violence in Kenya and neighboring Ethiopia.

Facebook is accused of causing death, displacement of families, vilification of individuals, and destruction of communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and other parts of Africa, though court procedures continue.