Written By Mary Mumbua 📝
Meta, a social technology corporation, wants a case filed by a South African Facebook moderator seeking compensation for claims of being subjected to a toxic work environment dismissed, claiming that Kenyan courts lack jurisdiction to hear the case.
In their application, Meta Platforms Inc. and Meta Platforms Ireland claim that they are foreign entities that are not domiciled or trading in Kenya, and so the High Court lacks jurisdiction over them.
Daniel Motaung, a South African, filed the lawsuit last month, claiming that he and his coworkers suffered psychological impairments as a result of frequent exposure to extremely distressing, graphic violent content combined with a toxic working environment.
Meta’s local outsourcing company, Samasource Kenya EPZ ltd, hired Mr Motaung as a moderator. He wants to be compensated for the pain and suffering he endured while working for the company for six months.
“In any event, the petitioner has not invoked the jurisdiction of this court by seeking and obtaining the leave of this honourable court as by law required,” said Senior Counsel Fred Ojiambo on behalf of Meta.
Mr Ojiambo further said the South African failed to disclose to the court that he signed a non-disclosure agreement as a moderator, which bared him from giving evidence against the organisation. The application will be heard on June 23.
Meta said it joined the case in protest because the court has no powers to entertain the petition. “Unless the orders sought herein are granted, there is imminent risk of the court acting without jurisdiction,” he said.
Meta said in the application that its names should be struck of the case because they were wrongly joined.
Mr Motaung filed the case seeking to be paid damages claiming he and his colleagues were also subjected to extra working hours, without compensation.
He claimed that a large number of moderators left Samasource in January 2021 and instead of hiring replacements, the firm forced the content moderators to cover additional hours.
He says he had no idea that he would spend his working hours looking at photos and videos of the most graphic and violent content.
Mr Motaung further said he and his former colleagues suffered serious psychological injuries arising from repeated exposure to extremely disturbing, graphic violent content coupled with toxic working environment.
“Content moderation at Facebook has been found to pose a risk to workers’ mental health. Because of their repeated exposure to gruesome content such as beheadings, torture, and rape, a significant number of Facebook moderators’ contract post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” he says.
The man says he was hired as a content moderator in March 2019 after graduating from university and was forced to relocate to Kenya but he was subjected to unreasonable working conditions including irregular pay, inadequate mental health support and violations of his rights to privacy and dignity.
The South African says four of his former colleagues wants to testify in support of his case. All four witnesses, he said, worked as moderators in Facebook’s African hub in Nairobi, which is operated by Samasource.
He claims that the four have sought anonymity and protection orders to shield them and their families from retaliation.
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