A labour court in Kenya has ruled that Facebook's parent company, Meta, can be sued by an ex-moderator for the site. Daniel Motaung, who worked for Sama at the time claimed that reviewing these graphic posts containing content such as beheadings and child abuse harmed their mental health. Sama is a company who have been subcontracted by Meta to moderate content on Facebook. Motaung says that they themselves, and their colleagues struggled with the content that they had to moderate, and that they had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.
Meta did challenge the ruling, stating that the court had no juristiction as the company is not based in Kenya, however the court disagreed saying that both Meta and Sama were "proper parties" to the case.
Sama has claimed that their accusations are "both disappointing and inaccurate," but as a result of this case it has since stopped working with Meta. Meta has declined to comment on this ruling however the legal campaign group Foxglove has said that it expects Meta to appeal.
Facebook content moderation has come under fire from other parties in recent weeks, continuing to be a topic of conversation both on and off the platform.
Source: BBC News
