Court rules Meta can be sued in Kenya over ‘unlawful’ layoffs

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For the second time this year, a Kenyan judge has rejected attempts by tech giant Meta to not answer to Kenyan justice over alleged unlawful layoffs of staff.

The first refusal came in February when a Kenyan labour court decided that Meta could be prosecuted for allegedly having terrible working conditions after one former moderator at the Nairobi hub filed a claim against it.

After 43 moderators at the Nairobi headquarters of Facebooks parent company Meta last month filed a case against the corporation and its local partner Sama for unjust termination, a Kenyan High Court judge today determined that Meta could be sued in Kenya. Photo Credit The News Crypto

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.

Reuters reports that the moderators, who are now 184 in number, in a petition, said 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 in 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, deadend job, Jones said.