Can Meta's Litigation in Kenya Open Cans Of Brewing Grievances?

Meta's failure to have itself struck out of the Kenyan case involving it and Sama, its subcontractor, may be the beginning of other grievances and agitations from African e-commerce operators who feel that Meta's funding policies are skewed.

Recently, a suit was filed against American social media giant Meta and Sama, its main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, over claims of exploitation and union busting.

A law firm representing Daniel Motaung, a former content moderator and Facebook whistleblower allegedly laid off for organising a 2019 strike and trying to unionize the subcontractor’s employees, claims that Meta and Sama “subjected current and former content moderators to forced labor and human trafficking for labor.” a suit was filed today against American social media giant Meta and Sama, its main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, over claims of exploitation and union busting.

Meta had sought to distance itself from the case, claiming that it’s a foreign company doing business in Kenya and that it's in contracts with Sama but is not an operating business in Kenya itself.

But in an interesting twist, a recent ruling from Jacob Kariuki, Kenya’s employment and labour relations court judge, determined that Meta will remain as a party in the case.

“The second and third respondents’ names [Meta Platforms Inc and Meta platforms Ireland Ltd] shall not be struck out at this stage,” the judge said during the ruling today.

“The notice of motion is disallowed.”

It appears that, even though Meta is not incorporated in Kenya, some aspects of how it operates in the country make it liable regardless. 

With this ruling, the stage appears set for other undertones of grievances from African digital marketers, for example.

E-commerce merchants in Africa marketing their wares using FaceBook Ads Manager have often suspected foul play in the manner of ads funding and Meta's non-refund policy for failed ads.

This is indeed a long-brewing sour point!