Kenya: High Court to decide jurisdiction status in landmark Meta case

 

The Kenyan High Court is today hearing a case in which two Ethiopian citizens, Abrham Meareg and Fisseha Tekle, and Kenyan civil society organization The Katiba Institute are accusing Facebook’s parent company Meta of promoting content that led to ethnic violence and killings during the armed conflict in northern Ethiopia from November 2020 to November 2022. 

The petitioners argue that the Facebook platform’s algorithmic recommendation systems prioritized and promoted inciteful, hateful and dangerous content on its platform during the conflict, contributing to significant human rights violations. The Kenyan court will decide if it has jurisdiction to hear the case. 

Meta’s legal team has argued that the case should not be heard in Kenya because the company is registered in the US and that Meta’s terms of service require such claims to be filed in the US.  

They also argue that the alleged human rights violations occurred in Ethiopia and therefore cannot be heard in Kenya. 

“Communities and individuals impacted by corporate human rights abuses committed by multi-nationals often struggle to access justice and effective remedies because of jurisdictional, practical and other legal challenges. As a result, Amnesty International is advocating for an approach to both cases that is informed by human rights obligations and corporate responsibilities that ensure justice and accountability.” 

In Kenya, a single Judge presides over a case, but petitioners can request their cases to be heard by not less than three judges if it raises significant constitutional issues. 

The petitioners, represented by Nzili and Sumbi Advocates and supported by the tech-justice organization Foxglove, argue, among other reasons, that because the content moderation operation reviewing Facebook content from Ethiopia was located in Kenya, the case can be brought to the Kenyan High Court.  

Other reasons cited for considering the case under Kenyan jurisdiction are Fisseha Tekle’s current residence in Kenya and safety concerns preventing him from returning to Ethiopia, the fact that The Katiba Institute is a Kenyan organization and the existence of a significant Facebook user base in the country.  

Amnesty International is one of seven human rights and legal organizations involved as interested parties to the case. The organization submitted written responses in support of the petition and opposing the application challenging jurisdiction by Meta. 

Background 

Abrham Meareg is the son of Meareg Amare, a University Professor at Bahir Dar University in northern Ethiopia, who was hunted down and killed in November 2021, just weeks after posts inciting hatred and violence against him were posted on Facebook.  

He claims that Facebook only responded to reports about the posts eight days after Professor Meareg’s death, more than three weeks after his family had first alerted the company. 

The second petitioner, Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty International employee, has faced extensive online hate due to his human rights work in Ethiopia. Now living in Kenya, Tekle fears for his safety, underscoring the transnational impact of the content spread through Facebook’s channels. 

Katiba Institute, the third petitioner, has brought the case in the public interest given the unchecked viral hate and violence on Meta’s Facebook platform and Kenya’s constitutional obligations. 

The petition seeks to stop Facebook’s algorithms from recommending such content to Facebook users, to change Meta’s content moderation practices, and to compel Meta to create a 200 billion shilling ($1.6 billion USD) victims’ fund.  

The case will proceed to deal with the substantive questions relating to the extent, if any, to which Meta is accountable for the human rights violations and human suffering caused as a result of the content promoted on Facebook. 

In October 2023, Amnesty International published the report, A death sentence for my father: Meta’s contribution to human rights abuses in northern Ethiopia, which shows how Meta contributed to human rights abuses suffered by the Tigrayan community during the conflict in northern Ethiopia two years ago. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.