Meta is currently facing a lawsuit in Kenya, as the company has been accused of amplifying hate speech and incitement to violence on Facebook. Petitioners demand $2 billion for restitution funds.

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A photograph shows the Meta logo at the Meta showroom in Brussels on December 07, 2022.

Meta Faces Lawsuit in Kenya

Meta Platforms Inc. faces a hate speech and violence lawsuit in Kenya's High Court, filed by Ethiopian researchers Abrham Meareg Amare and Fisseha Tekle, with the support from human rights group Katiba Institute and legal non-profit Foxglove.

According to a report from CNET, they accused Meta of amplifying hate speech and incitement to violence on Facebook. The petitioners are also pushing to obtain protection from the platform's failure on addressing violence and its dangerous design that promotes hateful content based on the platform's algorithm.

Content Moderation of Meta

Aside from this, the lawsuit alleges that Meta's content moderation in African countries is underinvested, including Latin America and the Middle East. Because of this, the petitioners want the company to focus on moderating its content on these countries, especially the ones that are vulnerable to war, conflict, ethnic pleasing, and genocide.

In order for this to happen, they called out Meta to provide better pay and working conditions for employees that will be handling this work. The petitioners demand $2 billion or 250 billion Kenyan shillings for Kenyan victims of hate and violence on Facebook.

False Accusations

Chemistry professor Meareg Amare Abrha was shot and killed outside his home last month, after a handful of posts that contained hate speech and violence, which targeted him for attack because of unfounded and false accusations. He was the father of one of the petitioners of this lawsuit. 

Bloomberg reported that a photo of his father was posted together with the leaked address of his residence. 

As per Meareg, he tried reporting  the hateful and dangerous content to Facebook but did not receive any response until his father was killed. He added, "If Facebook had just stopped the spread of hate and moderated posts properly, my father would still be alive. I'm seeking justice for millions of my fellow Africans hurt by Facebook's profiteering - and an apology for my father's murder."

Also Read: Meta to Settle $37.5M on Facebook's Location Tracking Feud, Now Waiting for Judge's Approval

Tigray War

Meareg argues that this is related to the civil war in Ethiopia, specifically against Tigrayans like his family. The Tigray war started in November 2020 when Tigray held its own regional elections, which were considered by the Ethiopian government illegal.

The Washington Post reported that Meta released a statement via the company's spokesperson Erin McPike, which stated that the company is grateful for the feedback from civil society organizations and international institutions as they used it for guidance on making policies and safety work in the continent.

McPike added, "We continue to develop our capabilities to catch violating content in the most widely spoken languages in the country, including Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya."

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