Meta plans to file an appeal against a decision by a Kenyan court that termed it the primary employer of moderators who review material on its platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.

Meta has filed a notice of appeal against the order issued last week on orders issued in March. This is following a lawsuit filed by 184 moderators against it and its content review partner in sub-Saharan Africa, Sama, for alleged unlawful termination of contracts. The moderators also assert Majorel, one of their new moderation partners for social media giant in the region, blacklisted them under instruction from Meta.

The Employment and Labor Relations Court in its ruling last Friday ruled that Meta was the primary and principal employer of the moderators and that Sama was "merely an agent…" outsourced to oversee the work.

In its decision, the court said the services of the moderators were about Meta while carried out through use of its technology, and in conformity with its performance and accuracy metrics. The court directed that the contracts of moderators be extended saying it has "found that the job of content moderation is available" and that "the applicants will continue working upon the prevailing or better terms in the interim.".

The court also barred Meta and Sama from retrenching moderators pending the final determination of the case, adding that there was no suitable justification for the redundancies.

Meta lamented in court documents lodged which TechCrunch had access to, that the said Court erred when it proceeded to extend contracts that had long since timed out, and was even faulting it for "re-writing contracts of employment" between the moderators and Sama, by "imposing terms and obligations" on Meta, yet they were oblivious about details of the contract of employment between the two.

The same application dated June 7, by Meta's EMEA director and associate general counsel for labor and employment, Joanne Redmond, further averred that the moderators were not social media giant employees but Sama's and also added that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Meta also argued, inter alia, that the court had erred in instructing it to regularise the immigration status of moderators, and in ordering it to provide them with medical care.

The court ordered Meta and Sama to provide moderators with medical, psychiatric and psychological care instead of "wellness counseling", declaring evidence demonstrated that the work of moderators was "inherently hazardous".

That's a heavy lift, as Meta's moderators are tasked to sift through social media posts on the company's platforms such as Facebook to remove content that spreads hate, misinformation, and violence.

Sama terminated 260 moderators after canceling Meta's contract and content review services to focus on labeling work or computer vision data annotation.

In the case, the moderators aver that Sama illegally let them go after failing to give them redundancy notice as required in Kenyan law. Other issues the suit claims is that the moderators were not issued with a 30-day termination notice, and that their terminal dues were pegged on signing the non-disclosure documents.

Past reveals that Sama actually communicated the decision to end content moderation to the employees in town hall, via email, and through notice letters. They further accused Majorel of denying them a chance for jobs because of having previously worked for Sama. The new moderation partner was ordered by the court to stop biasing.

Meta is its third case in Kenya after a South African, Daniel Motaung, sued the company last year, accusing it of labor and human trafficking, unfair labor relations, union busting, and lack of adequate mental health and psychosocial support. Motaung claims that he was retrenched for organizing a 2019 strike and attempting to unionize employees at Sama.

Ethiopians have also sued Meta over claims that the social media giant failed to employ enough safety measures on Facebook, which, in turn, fuelled the conflicts that led to deaths, including the father of one of the petitioners and 500,000 Ethiopians during the Tigray War.