Facebook's parent company, Meta, and its largest African partner Sama are facing new charges of forced labor, human trafficking, and the destruction of labor unions in Kenya.
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Daniel Motaung, a former content coordinator at Facebook, filed a lawsuit in Nairobi on Tuesday accusing Meta and outsourcing firm Sama of multiple violations of Kenya’s constitution — forced labor, human trafficking and union destruction. The lawsuit follows a TIME story published in February titled “Inside Facebook’s African Sweatshop,” in which Motaung and other current and former Sama employees spoke out about thedire working conditions.
Sama, which bills itself as an “ethical AI” company, fired Motaung in 2019after he led more than 100 of his Facebook colleagues in an effort to unionize for better pay and working conditions. His termination letter said his actions put Sama’s relationship with Facebook “at great risk.”
Paying about $2.20 an hour, Motaung says he saw disturbing content, including violent beheadings and child sexual abuse. He now regularly experiences nightmares and says the requirement to watch videos of innocent people being kidnapped and murdered has left him with severe anxiety in public places – and difficulty finding other work. He remains unemployed and was recently diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a diagnosis shared by many of former colleagues .
Sama said Motaung was fired for the legitimate reason of intimidating and coercing his colleagues.
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About the lawsuit
The civil suit filed Tuesday is the first of its kind, Motaung’s lawyers say, because it seeks not only damages but also far-reaching reforms that could force Facebook to change its content moderation practices globally. The lawsuit accuses Meta and Sama (formerly known as Samasource) of multiple violations of Kenya’s constitution.
Sama has previously denied the exploitation of employees and the collapse of unions, and Meta has stated that it requires its partners to provide “good working conditions for employees.”.
Complaints about human trafficking
The lawsuit alleges that Sama and Meta engaged in forced labor by placing “misleading job ads” that did not inform applicants that they would be working as content moderators at Facebook, nor did they warn them that they would see disturbing content that could lead to trauma.
The lawsuit alleges that this amounted to human trafficking in the cases of dozens of workers brought to Kenya under false pretenses from elsewhere in Africa to work at Sama.
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“These misleading advertisements deliberately targeted Kenyans and Africans from disadvantaged backgrounds who, after being duped into a job they did not realize they had applied for, were trapped in a dangerous job with no safety net,” Motaung’s lawyers said.
The lawsuit alleges a number of other violations of Kenyan law, including wage theft, racial discrimination, psychological torture, unequal pay for equal work, and negligence for failing to provide adequate psychosocial support. Meta and Sama are alleged to have violated Kenyan constitutional protections for freedom of association, freedom of expression, dignity, privacy, fair wages, and reasonable working conditions.
Meta is seeking to have its name removed from the case. In a letter dated April 21, its lawyers said the company “is not responsible for” any of the allegations made by Motaung’s lawyers in a March letter. Meta’s lawyers said Motaung worked for Sama, not Meta, and that “no action can be brought against Meta for any rights and/or obligations allegedly owed and owed to the Plaintiff in connection with employment with Sama, as Meta was not and never has been employer .”
Motaung’s lawyers say their client will argue in response that Sama is an “agent” of Metabecause Sama employees use Facebook, work closely with staff , and work on a work schedule set by Meta. They will argue that Meta contracts Sama to perform unpleasant tasks that would otherwise have to be done internally at Meta.
Information source: time.com
