- Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd wanted to be out of the case filed by ex-South African Facebook Moderator Daniel Motaung.
- Its argument was that Kenyan courts don't have jurisdiction.
Image: FILE
A Labour Court has said Facebook's parent company Meta will not be exempted from a case in which it has been sued over a toxic work environment.
Justice Jacob Gakeri recognized that Facebook is not registered in Kenya but maintained it can be sued in Kenya.
Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd wanted to be out of the case filed by ex-South African Facebook Moderator Daniel Motaung.
Its argument was that Kenyan courts don't have jurisdiction.
Motaung sued the company over alleged exploitation and poor working condition at its Nairobi office.
The Judge on Monday gave Motaung another chance to serve Facebook outside Kenya's jurisdiction since it's not registered in Kenya.
He further extended orders prohibiting the discussion of the case in other forums.
The case will be mentioned on March 8 for status directions.
Meta had argued that the Kenyan court cannot hear the case brought against them by Motaung.
They cited a lack of jurisdiction and further claimed to be foreign corporations who are neither resident, domiciled nor trading in Kenya.
But Motaung asked the court to dismiss Meta's objection.
He said the two firms have extensive operations in Kenya and have publicly acknowledged their tax obligations in Kenya.
Katiba Institute, an interested party in the case, had also asked the court to dismiss Meta's objections on the court's jurisdiction.
Katiba through lawyer Dudley Ochiel argued that the alleged violations on Motaung occurred in Kenya.
"The bottom line is that there is a sufficient nexus between the territory of Kenya and Meta, which employed Daniel as a Facebook content moderator in Kenya."
In the case, the petitioner laments over poor working conditions and the violation of human and labour rights.
He says once the petition goes to a full hearing, he will demonstrate how the two firms were the masterminds behind the extensive violations of his rights.
He claims the firms designed a product, system and workflow whose implementation led to the violation of the Facebook content moderators' right to fair labour relations.
The creation of the new product subjected Facebook content moderators to inadequate remuneration and to unequal pay for equal work.
He says their demands on the volume of work to be done further led to the exposure of unreasonable amounts of harmful content.
"The Facebook product where from time to time people post harmful content is a creation of the two firms. The necessity of the job of a content moderator, which is in itself a harmful job is therefore created by a product the two firms fashioned," he said adding the two knew the risks to mental health brought about by the 'harmful job' failed to design a system and workflow that would better care for moderators.
]The two, Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, were formerly known as Facebook Inc and Facebook Ireland.
They changed their names in 2021.