"Meta content review partner Sama told by court to pay moderator", 11 May 2023

Meta’s content moderation partner in Africa, Sama, was earlier today compelled by a Kenyan court to pay April salaries to a section of moderators it had left out. The direction comes days after moderators picketed at Sama headquarters in Kenya demanding April pay.

The court ordered Sama to continue paying the moderators following an urgent application filed on April 27 that sought to have it compelled to pay the salaries and observe orders issued in March.

The 184 moderators sued Sama for allegedly laying them off unlawfully, after it wound down its content review arm in March, and Majorel, the social media giant’s new partner in Africa, for blacklisting on instruction by Meta.

Today, the judge directed “Sama to continue paying the petitioners being Facebook moderators…and within the terms of the orders given by court.”

The court had on April 28 also issued orders preserving the moderators immigration status. The moderators, hired from across the continent, including from Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia and South Africa, were facing deportation.

Sama told TechCrunch that it “takes all orders from the court seriously and will continue to follow the detailed advice provided by our counsel to ensure we are working within the bounds of local law.”

However, it said today’s “hearing hasn’t changed previous advice — Sama is continuing to pay all moderators who have valid contracts,” to mean that a majority of the moderators will not be receiving pay, as they “were hired on term contracts that ended at the same time as the expiry of the moderation contract with Facebook,” said Sama. Those alleged to have no contracts were required by Sama to clear with the company by March 11.