According to court papers, a Kenyan judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the mass layoff of about 260 Facebook content moderators who were employed by an outsourcing firm hired by the parent company, Meta, of the social media site.
Until a decision on the validity of the content moderators’ redundancy was made, Judge Matthews Nduma issued an interim injunction against Meta and the Kenyan outsourcing company Sama, stopping them from terminating the content moderators’ contracts at the end of March.
43 moderators at Facebook’s Nairobi moderation center filed a lawsuit last week alleging wrongful termination against the social media platform and Sama. The moderators claimed they were fired from Sama as a result of starting a union. Additionally, they claim that after registering for the same positions at another outsourcing company, Luxembourg-based Majorel, they were prohibited from doing so, after Facebook switched contractors..
The court decisions might have an impact on how Meta collaborates with content moderators around the world. The American business collaborates with tens of thousands of moderators who are responsible for screening graphic material before it is posted on its platform.
