Kenyan court rules US social media firm Facebook can be sued over working conditions

A labour court in Kenya ruled on Monday that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, can be sued in the East African country after a former content moderator filed a lawsuit against it alleging poor working conditions.

Former content moderator Daniel Motaung, who says he developed PTSD because of his work, filed the case.

Motaung alleges reviewing graphic social media posts on Facebook harmed his mental health. He claims he was paid about $2.20 (£1.80) per hour to review posts including beheadings and child abuse.

Meta has faced lawsuits over content moderation before.

In 2021 a California judge approved an $85 million settlement between Facebook and more than 10,000 content moderators who had accused the company of failing to protect them from psychological injuries resulting from their exposure to graphic and violent imagery.

Meta is also facing another lawsuit in Kenya. In December, two Ethiopian researchers and a Kenyan rights group filed a suit accusing Meta of letting violent and hateful posts from Ethiopia flourish on Facebook, inflaming the Ethiopian civil war.

Meta said hate speech and incitement to violence were against the rules of Facebook and Instagram, another of its platforms, and that it was investing heavily to remove this type of content.

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