" Facebook parent Meta agrees to settle dispute with content moderators" 23 August 2023

The layoffs announced in January followed the end of a contract between Meta and Sama, a company hired to moderate Facebook content in east and southern Africa since 2019. A Kenyan court in June suspended the mass sacking and barred Facebook's new subcontractor, Luxembourg-headquartered Majorel, from blacklisting the moderators from applying for the same roles.

"The parties shall pursue an out of court settlement of this petition through mediation," the consent agreement seen on Wednesday by AFP news agency said. Kenya's former chief justice Willy Mutunga and an official from the labour ministry will mediate the process. "The proceedings of the mediation shall be confidential except the final agreement reached... and adopted as an order of the court," the consent agreement said.[...] The content moderators are seeking compensation for "damage caused to their mental health and general wellbeing as a result of the constant exposure to toxic content". According to the agreement, the Silicon Valley behemoth and the moderators have 21 days to reach a settlement. If they fail to do so, the case will be heard by the employment and labour relations court.