Facebook fails to stop suit by 186 content moderators
A gavel and logo of Facebook owner Meta. The giant social media firm has suffered a blow after the Court of Appeal declined to suspend a case filed by more than 180 Facebook content moderators, pending the determination of a petition challenging Kenyan courts from handling the suit. FILE PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK
Meta has suffered a blow after the Court of Appeal declined to suspend a case filed by more than 180 Facebook content moderators, pending the determination of a petition challenging Kenyan courts from handling the suit.
A bench of three judges of the appellate court said they were not persuaded that Meta had demonstrated any basis to merit the order of stay of the proceedings as prayed.
Facebook owner Meta had argued that the Employment and Labour Relations court wrongly assumed jurisdiction over a foreign company by allowing the 186 content moderators to sue to pursue the legal claim against the company.
“More importantly, the main petition is still pending hearing before the trial court. There is nothing to show that in the absence of a stay, the applicant’s ability to defend the said petition will be hindered,” Justices Daniel Musinga, Kathurima M’Inoti and John Mativo said.
The judges, at the same time, declined to stop another case filed against Meta Platforms and Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd and Samasource Kenya EPZ, by South African content moderator Daniel Motaung.
The judges said a stay of proceedings pending hearing and determination of an appeal of a ruling should only be allowed if the circumstances are such that the impugned order will significantly prejudice the applicant if the matter proceeds.
Meta challenged the cases arguing that the Facebook content moderators failed to meet the legal threshold, so that the court may allow them to serve the foreign firms with the court documents.
The 186 content moderators sued the firm and blocked the employer from declaring them redundant, pending the determination of their case.
