Kenya-Based Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok Moderators Form a Union to Push for Better Working Conditions

Over 200 Kenya-based content moderators working for social media giants Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Open AI’s ChatGPT have resolved to form and register a workers’ union to advocate for their welfare.

During a Labor Day meeting on Monday, the group decided to create the Content Moderators Union, which will welcome content moderators from any major tech companies.

The move comes amid the ongoing legal battle between workers of Facebook parent company Meta’s moderation partner Sama and over poor working conditions in the Nairobi hub.

In 2019, a former moderator at Sama Daniel Motuang started a group that tried to negotiate over unfair conditions but Sama executives crushed his efforts to form the union before sacking him.

Following a 2022 Time Magazine exposé that lifted the lid on the exploitation of Facebook moderators based in Nairobi, a number of suits were filed, culminating in two judgments by Kenyan courts against Meta.

Motaung filed the first case, accusing Meta and Sama of exploitation, union-busting, and wage theft. 

Facebook and Sama appeared to retaliate, announcing in January a mass sacking of all 260 moderators at Facebook’s Nairobi hub.

In March this year, another suit was filed against Meta and its outsourcers for sacking the entire workforce and blacklisting the laid-off workers.

Kenya’s employment and labor relations court issued orders stopping Meta from switching suppliers from Sama to Majorel until the legality of the redundancy is determined.

In January, Meta filed an application arguing that the local court had no jurisdiction over it because it is neither based in nor trades in Kenya.

But the court in February ruled Meta can be sued in Kenya and declined to strike out the US tech giant from the case.

“I never thought, when I started the Alliance in 2019, we would be here today – with moderators from every major social media giant forming the first African moderators union. There have never been more of us. Our cause is right, our way is just, and we shall prevail. I couldn’t be prouder of today’s decision to register the Content Moderators Union,” Motaung said on Monday.

Kauna Malgwi, a Facebook moderator working at Sama, said, “Sama and Facebook thought they could get rid of us because we spoke up, but they only made us resolve to fight. Withholding our pay and threatening people’s immigration status doesn’t just show contempt for Kenyan justice, it disrespects us. But we won’t take it lying down. We will not rest until justice is done.”