Facebook owner Meta set to appeal ruling on being sued in Kenya
The logos of Facebook social network and its parent company Meta. Meta has appealed the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruling that it can be sued in Kenya.
What you need to know:
- American social media giant Meta has appealed the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruling that it can be sued in Kenya.
- Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd are challenging the decision which emerged from a case relating to the alleged exploitation of workers and oppressive labour practices in Kenya.
- Judge Jacob Gakeri declined to strike out Meta from the case filed by former Facebook moderator Daniel Motaung who has sued the social technology company over a toxic work environment.
American social media giant Meta has appealed the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruling that it can be sued in Kenya.
Meta Platforms Inc and Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd, which own various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, are challenging the decision which emerged from a case relating to the alleged exploitation of workers and oppressive labour practices in Kenya.
The ruling was delivered by Judge Jacob Gakeri on February 6 in Nairobi. The judge declined to strike out Meta from the case filed by former Facebook moderator Daniel Motaung who has sued the social technology company over a toxic work environment.
In the notice of appeal dated February 17, Meta says it is aggrieved by the failure of the Labour court to determine whether the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and the laws of Kenya have extraterritorial jurisdiction and apply to foreign corporates having no presence in Kenya.
Through Kaplan & Straton Advocates, Meta also says that failure by the petitioner to seek authority to serve documents to Meta, which is based out of Kenya, was a procedural deficiency.
Pending the determination of the intended appeal, Meta’s lawyer Fred Ojiambo urged the Labour court to suspend the case until the appeal is determined, the main issue being whether Kenyan courts can hear the suit involving a foreign corporate.
“This is a pure employment relationship matter. We (Meta) are not the employer and we are going to show that. The petitioner has to prove that he was employed by our clients,” Mr Ojiambo said. He insisted that Meta ought not to have been sued in Kenya since the petitioner had been contracted by a third party, Samasource Kenya EPZ, which had been hired to provide content moderation services on Facebook.
Meta has termed the suit incompetent, bad in law and unsustainable and that the Labour Court should await the Court of Appeal’s decision.
However, Justice Gakeri declined to hear the stay application and directed all parties to file their submissions on the application before March 14.
Mr Motaung wants to be granted orders allowing him to furnish Meta with the court papers. He was ordered to do so to enable the company to respond to the claims raised against it.
