Meta-Majorel partnership blocked by Kenyan court
NAIROBI, KENYA — Tech giant Meta is temporarily prohibited from engaging with its new content moderation subcontractor Majorel following an illegal termination and blacklisting case in Kenya.
The Kenyan court also barred Sama, Meta’s outgoing content moderation partner, from effecting any form of redundancy.
The decision was released after it was revealed that Sama plans to lay off 260 content moderators that served Eastern and Southern Africa at the end of this month.
About 43 moderators claimed that Sama failed to issue redundancy notices — as required by Kenyan law — and a 30-day termination notice. Their terminal dues were also allegedly pegged on their signing of non-disclosure documents.
The laid-off moderators applying for jobs at Majorel added that they were “denied on the basis that they previously worked at the 3rd Respondent’s (Sama) facility.”
Sama said they had observed the Kenyan law and communicated the decision to discontinue content moderation in a town hall and through email and notification letters.
The hearing of the emergency application is set for March 28. In the meantime, Sama will exclusively offer content review services to Meta.
