The attorney for 184 former Facebook content moderators stationed in Kenya who sued the parent business of the website, Meta, over salary and working conditions, claimed Monday that Meta has not been honest in trying to achieve a settlement outside of court as promised in the previous court session.
The former moderators want to move on with a contempt of court case against Meta, according to lawyer Mercy Mutemi, who claimed that the talks have broken down.
“The petitioners gave it their best effort. They attended every mediation. The respondents asked for information which we gave them. They kept saying they would get back to us by a certain date but only got back to us at the end of last week with a very small amount that cannot even take care of the petitioners’ mental health,” she told the court. She described Meta as “not genuine.”
The moderators were hired through Sama, a San Francisco subcontractor, which presents itself as an ethical AI company, to work at its Nairobi hub. Their role involved reviewing user-generated content in 12 different African languages and removing any uploads that violated Facebook’s community standards and terms of service.
According to some of the individuals petitioning the case, their job required them to watch distressing content for eight hours a day, which took a significant toll on them, all while being compensated at 60,000 Kenyan shillings, equivalent to $414 per month. They accused Sama of inadequately addressing the need for post-traumatic professional counseling. Their demand is for $1.6 billion in compensation.
Meta and Sama’s legal teams had initially believed that the mediation was progressing well and required extensive hours, until the moderators’ attorney expressed objections.
Justice Nduma Nderi characterized the breakdown in negotiations as a “missed opportunity” for the parties to reach a mutually acceptable resolution, rather than the court having to issue an order.
The parties will reconvene for a hearing on October 31st regarding the moderators’ application to hold Meta and Sama in contempt of court.
This lawsuit marks the first publicly known legal challenge against Facebook outside of the United States. In 2020, Facebook agreed to a $52 million settlement with U.S. content moderators who had filed a class action lawsuit due to repeated exposure to graphic and disturbing content, including beheadings, child abuse, animal cruelty, terrorism, and more.
Both Facebook and Sama have defended their employment practices.