Grace Ashiru
A Kenyan High Court is set to hear a case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, brought by two Ethiopian citizens and a Kenyan civil society organization, The Katiba Institute, on Tuesday.
The plaintiffs, Abraham Meareg, Fisseha Tekle, and The Katiba Institute, allege that Meta promoted content that incited ethnic violence and killings during the armed conflict in northern Ethiopia from November 2020 to November 2022.
“This morning, the High Court will hear arguments regarding its jurisdiction to consider a case challenging Facebook’s algorithm for allowing and promoting unlawful content,” said Mercy Mutemi of Nzili and Sumbi Advocates, who represents the two Ethiopian petitioners.
Abraham Meareg, whose father was killed in November 2021 after hate posts targeting him surfaced on Facebook, and Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty International employee facing online threats, have joined forces with the Katiba Institute to sue Meta.
They claim that Facebook’s algorithms promoted harmful content, contributing to human rights abuses.
A recent ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court regarding Meta’s liability for the actions of its former content moderators in Kenya may have implications for the current case in the High Court.
On September 20, the Supreme Court established a precedent that could bolster the petitioners’ case against Meta. The ruling determined that foreign companies like Meta can be held accountable for their actions in Kenya, even when those actions are conducted through third-party contractors.
However, this ruling may not directly apply to the specific facts of the case against Meta. The High Court will need to consider the unique circumstances of the case, including the nature of the alleged human rights violations and the role that Meta’s algorithmic recommendation systems played in promoting harmful content, as explained by a human rights advocate to TechCabal.
