According to reports, a former employee of Facebook in Kenya was fired after questioning work conditions and threatened to sue Meta for wrongful termination.
The EastAfrican newspaper reported that Daniel Motaung, a former content moderator for the social media platform, claims he was fired for trying to organise a trade union with his 100 co-workers in the Nairobi office to protest what they felt were exploitative working conditions.
His lawyers wrote a demand letter Tuesday, March 29, to Meta and Sama, a San Francisco-based Ethical Artificial Intuition (AI) firm that provides content moderation services for Facebook users in Nairobi.
The letter alerted both firms to the possibility of a legal suit for violating Kenyan or international staff’s rights. It also stated that they were constitutionally allowed to form a union.
“Content moderators like Daniel are the most important and least-discussed aspect of Facebook’s global operations. Their job is to sift through the social media posts of Facebook’s nearly three billion monthly users and remove posts that violate its rules – such as graphic violence, hate, and misinformation,” it stated.
They stated that the nature and work of the job could lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which has not yet been addressed.
“Facebook subcontracts most of this work to companies like Sama – a practice that keeps Facebook’s profit margins high but at the cost of thousands of moderators’ health – and the safety of Facebook worldwide. Sama moderators report ongoing violations, including conditions which are unsafe, degrading, and pose a risk of PTSD,” the letter said.
The lawyers said the claimant believes that Sama participated in unlawful “union-busting action”, which included flying over a top executive from the United States to crush the fledgling union.
Facebook has been given 21 days by the workers to address 12 demands for fair treatment. Otherwise, they could face legal action.
According to reports, 2020 will be the year of the Millennials. Facebook paid out $52 million to fund mental health treatment for some of its American content moderators following a lawsuit centred on mental ill health stemming from their work.
According to TIME, a TIME investigation revealed that Facebook content moderators in Kenya were characterized by low pay and mental trauma, intimidation, and suppression of the right for unionization.
Source: rnewtimes
