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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 11 May 2022
Facebook sued in Kenya over work conditions for moderators

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA health treatment, the filing
and AMANDA SEITZ alleges.
Associated Press The lawsuit also seeks orders
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — for Facebook and Sama to
A man who says he is “de- respect moderators’ right
stroyed” after working as to unionize.
a content moderator for Meta’s office in Nairobi said
Facebook has filed a law- it takes seriously its responsi-
suit accusing the company bility to people who review
of human trafficking Afri- content for the company
cans to work in an exploit- and requires its “partners
ative and unsafe facility in to provide industry-leading
Kenya. pay, benefits and support,”
The case against Meta according to a statement
Platforms, the Menlo Park, issued by the company’s
Calif. company that owns spokeswoman.
Facebook, and Sama, a “We also encourage con-
San Francisco subcontrac- tent reviewers to raise issues
tor, was lodged Tuesday when they become aware
with a court in the Kenyan of them and regularly con-
capital, Nairobi. duct independent audits
Daniel Motaung’s petition to ensure our partners are
“calls upon Kenya’s courts meeting the high standards
to order Facebook and its Facebook’s Meta logo sign is seen at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on, Oct. we expect of them,” the
28, 2021.
outsourcing companies Associated Press statement said.
to end exploitation in its In 2020, Facebook agreed
Nairobi moderation hub, Motaung says he was dis- nya for that work, he was viewing disturbing content to pay $52 million to U.S.
where content moderators missed after trying to spear- told to sign a non-disclo- that expose them to men- content moderators who
work in dangerous condi- head efforts to unionize at sure agreement and his tal health woes. filed a class action lawsuit
tions,” said a statement by the facility. pay was less than prom- Applicants are recruited after they were repeatedly
Foxglove, a London-based Motaung said his job was ised, with one monthly “through deceit,” said Mer- exposed to beheadings,
legal nonprofit that sup- traumatizing and he now paycheck that was 40,000 cy Mutemi, who filed the child and sexual abuse, an-
ports Facebook content has a fear of death. Kenyan shillings, or roughly petition in court Tuesday imal cruelty, terrorism and
moderators. “I had potential,” Motaung $350 U.S. dollars. morning. “We found a lot of other disturbing content.
The first video Motaung said. “When I went to Ke- The lawsuit notes that Africans were forced into Sama, which describes it-
watched as a Facebook nya, I went to Kenya be- Sama targets people from force labor situations and self as an ethical AI com-
moderator was a video of cause I wanted to change poor families across Kenya, human trafficking. When pany, did not immediately
someone being behead- my life. I wanted to change South Africa, Ethiopia, So- you leave your country for provide comment.
ed, he told reporters during the life of my family. I came malia, Uganda and other a job that you didn’t apply Sama’s Nairobi location is
a call Tuesday. He stayed out a different person, a countries in the region with for, that amounts to human the largest content moder-
on the job for roughly six person who has been de- “misleading job ads” that trafficking.” ation facility in Africa, with
months, after relocating stroyed.” fail to disclose that they will Content moderators are approximately 240 employ-
from South Africa to Nai- Motaung says in his filing be working as Facebook not given enough medical ees working on the effort,
robi in 2019 for the work. that once he arrived in Ke- content moderators or coverage to seek mental according to the filing.q

Indonesian sailors seize $82M of cocaine floating off port

biggest cocaine seizure Heri Purwono said. Smug- Muslim holy month of Ra-
after finding plastic pack- glers likely put the drugs in madan by traveling to see
ages of the drugs floating the water near a port for their families across the vast
at sea, the navy said. them to be moved by a archipelago.
Indonesia is a major hub speedboat and were mon- The U.N. drug office says
for drug trafficking in South- itoring the packages when Indonesia is a major smug-
east Asia and has strict drug they were seized by the gling hub in part because
laws, with convicted smug- navy, he said. international drug syn-
glers sometimes executed “This is a spectacular sei- dicates target its young
by firing squad. zure of cocaine, consider- population. Indonesia’s
The four black packages ing its huge value and the National Narcotics Agency
containing 179 kilograms impact on the people as estimates there are 5.6 mil-
(nearly 400 pounds) of co- a result of the illicit drugs,” lion drug users in the coun-
caine worth 1.2 trillion ru- Purwono said. No one has try of 270 million people.
piah ($82.6 million) were been arrested, and author- Most of the more than 150
found floating near Merak ities are still investigating, people on Indonesia’s
In this photo released by the Indonesian Navy, navy personnel port on Java island on Sun- he said. death row were convicted
display packages containing 179 kilograms (nearly 400 day, the navy’s deputy The officers who spotted of drug crimes.
pounds) of cocaine worth of 1.2 trillion rupiah ($82.6 million)
during a media conference at the Western Fleet headquarters chief of staff said at a news the package were among About one-third of them
in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, May 9, 2022. conference Monday. 5,000 navy personnel de- are foreigners. Its last exe-
Associated Press Smuggling drugs by throw- ployed to secure Eid al-Fitr cutions were in 2016, when
ing packages and a buoy homecomings. Millions of an Indonesian and three
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — travel during the Eid al-Fitr into the sea is a common Indonesians celebrate the foreigners were shot by a
Sailors deployed to secure holiday made Indonesia’s tactic, Vice Adm. Ahmadi holiday at the end of the firing squad.q