Meta, the parent company behind social media giants Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, has finally responded to a lawsuit filed at the Kenyan High Court over its poor working conditions for outsourced workers.
The tech giant’s Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland corporations had been named in the suit as second and third respondents.
In its response, the company argued that Kenya does not have jurisdiction to determine its suit since it is a foreign corporation registered in different countries.
As a result, the company is seeking to have the suit dropped. The company also argues that the petitioners had signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) before embarking on the content moderation duties they had been assigned.
An undated photo of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Photo by Nick Statt / The Verge “The Second and Third Respondents (Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland) are foreign corporations who are neither resident, domiciled nor trading in Kenya and accordingly this Honorable Court has no jurisdiction over them.
“In any event, the petitioner has not invoked the jurisdiction of this honorable court by seeking and obtaining the leave of this honorable court as by law required,” stated a lawyer working on the suit as per TechCrunch.
In his suit, former Facebook content moderator, Daniel Moutang, accused Facebook of exploiting its outsourced workforce and was seeking Kenyan courts to put a stop to the vice.
He further argued that the working conditions were tough for its employees who were forced to view explicit and toxic content which affects them psychologically.
The conditions first emerged in a Time Magazine exposé in March showing that despite their tough working conditions, the employees were the lowest paid in the whole of Meta’s workforce worldwide.
Some of the workers decried brutal working conditions at the company that was described as a ‘sweatshop’.
The company had employed nearly 200 individuals tasked with watching ‘videos of murders, rapes, suicides, and child sexual abuse.’
Soon after the exposé, the employees received a pay rise of Ksh20,000.
Billed hourly, the employees are said to receive Ksh250, a jump from the previous Ksh170. The workers spent a total of nine work hours on their desks.
The February 28, 2022, Time Magazine Cover featuring Daniel Motaung.
Time Magazine abuse murder sex suicide rape
