Rights groups are calling on Meta to halt attempts to silence Daniel Motaung, a South African content moderator and whistleblower that is suing it alongside Sama, its main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, in Kenya over claims of union busting and exploitation.
In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the group of over 80 organizations and individuals including Frances Haugen, a whistleblower and former Meta executive, demanded that the social media giant and Sama stop efforts to have the Kenyan court issue a gag order on Motaung.
Their efforts follow last month’s court hearing, where Meta asked the court to stop Motaung, a South African national, from talking to the media and in public saying it risked prejudicing court proceedings– a plea that the court rejected. The court, however, allowed Meta’s lawyers to raise contempt of court proceedings if they had any evidence of the same.
Previously, Meta had applied to have the case dropped, noting that moderators had signed a non-disclosure agreement, barring them from issuing evidence against it.
“…your companies are aggressively attempting to silence Daniel, as well as Foxglove, the legal NGO supporting him, with a gag order and contempt of court proceedings. Your lawyers have even asked a judge to “crack the whip” against Daniel, a frontline worker who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the work he did for you and for which he was earning just $2.20 per hour. It appears Meta and Sama would rather...
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