Meta will reportedly be sued by 184 former Facebook content moderators in Kenya with a contempt of court case after failing an out-of-court settlement despite the petitioner's "best efforts" in getting the deal done.
Mata is accused of insincere intentions behind the negotiation talks that showed lackluster interest and an insufficient proposed amount for the settlement that the lawyer, Mercy Mutemi, described as something "that cannot even take care of the petitioners' mental health."
Mutemi described Meta's disappointing effort to settle the negotiation as "not genuine," wherein the petitioners tried with "their best effort" in each mediation, yet Meta "kept saying they would get back to [the petitioners] by a certain date but only got back... at the end of last week."
Mutemi, while representing the petitioners, remained open to continuing the negotiation talks between Meta should the firm be "willing to engage seriously."
According to the Employment and Labor Relations court, the former Kenyan chief justice Willy Mutunga and the labor commissioner Hellen Apiyo are expected to co-mediate the disagreement, which gave them 21 days to come to a now-failed agreement.
The parties will now attend a hearing on the moderators' request to hold Meta and Sama in contempt of court on October 31.
Meta's Responses
BBC reports that Meta, with the recent developments, has responded by saying, "we remain committed to Africa, and our content review work in local languages, so we're exploring options with our partners who have a presence on the continent to ensure that we can continue to help keep people safe on our platforms."
Meta also stated in an Associated Press report last August that where they operate, its contractors are obligated by law to pay their staff more than the going rate for the industry and give on-site support from qualified professionals.
Meta and the petitioners' out-of-court settlement was agreed upon last August during a court hearing that saw 184 former content moderators employed at the social media giant's outsourced hub, Sama, sued the company after reportedly forming a union that retaliated against poor working conditions, inadequate mental health care, and low pay.
The lawsuit saw the former content moderators seeking $1.6 billion in compensation.
Facebook Content Moderation Working Conditions
The moderators had to review user content in 12 African languages to comply with Facebook's community standards and rules of service and delete any uploads that failed to meet the platform's standards. The job was described as watching "horrific content for eight hours daily."
In a BBC report, Sama stated that they paid the content moderators $630 (£515) per month. In contrast, the Associated Press reports that according to the content moderators, they were paid 60,000 Kenyan shillings, or $414 a month, while failing to ensure "post-traumatic professional counseling was offered."
Associated Press also stated in a different report that Sama claimed all employees had unrestricted access to one-on-one counseling and that pay given in Kenya was four times the local minimum salary.
