Meta Faces Lawsuit In Ghana Over Moderators’ Mental Health
Meta is facing a lawsuit in Ghana as content moderators who experienced severe psychological harm caused by taking down disturbing social media content, including depictions of murders, extreme violence, and child sexual abuse.
Lawyers are preparing for court action against a company contracted by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, following a meeting with moderators at a facility in Ghana that allegedly employs approximately 150 people. This is the second lawsuit Meta is facing in Africa.
Why is Meta facing a lawsuit in Ghana?
Moderators working for Majorel in Accra claim that their work has caused extreme mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and substance abuse. The findings were revealed in a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
The moderators explained that the mental care provided by the firm was unhelpful and not supplied by medical doctors, and that personal information provided by staff about the effects of their work was shared with managers.
Teleperformance disagreed with this, stating it hired licensed mental health professionals who are registered with the local regulatory body and hold a master’s degree in psychology, counselling, or another mental health field.
UK Nonprofit Foxlove is preparing the legal case, which is the second case brought by content moderators in Africa, following the 2023 lawsuit by Samasource workers in Kenya.
“These are the worst conditions I have seen in six years of working with social media content moderators around the world,” Foxglove’s co-executive director, Martha Dark, told The Guardian.
Legal case against Meta in Kenya
In March 2023, over 180 Kenyan content moderators filed a separate lawsuit against Sama and Meta for unlawful dismissal. They were also suing Majorel, Meta’s other content moderation partner, for backlisting Sama’s former employees.
In September 2024, Kenya’s Court of Appeal ruled that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, can be sued in Kenya for labor disputes involving outsourced content moderators. The case centered around Daniel Motaung, a South African whistleblower, and 185 other content moderators who allege Meta failed to provide adequate working conditions.
Motaung’s claims of exploitation, poor working conditions, and inadequate mental health support sparked global attention. After attempting to form a union and improve working conditions, Motaung was fired, leading him to file the lawsuit in 2022.
Image: Getty
