Kenyan court to rule on jurisdiction in Facebook algorithm case over Ethiopia violence 

A Kenyan High Court will hear a case against Meta, Facebook’s parent company, brought by two Ethiopian citizens and a Kenyan civil society organisation, The Katiba Institute, on Tuesday. 

The plaintiffs, Abraham Meareg, Fisseha Tekle, and The Katiba Institute, are alleging Meta promoted content that led to 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 on whether it has jurisdiction to hear a case challenging the Facebook algorithm for allowing and promoting unlawful content,” Mercy Mutemi of Nzili and Sumbi Advocates, who represents the two Ethiopian petitioners, said on Tuesday. 

Abrham Meareg, whose father was killed on November 2021 after hate posts targeting him appeared on Facebook, and Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty International employee facing online threats, joined Katiba Institute in suing Meta. 

They claim Facebook’s algorithms promoted harmful content, contributing to human rights abuses. 

Kenya’s Supreme Court’s ruling on Meta’s liability for the actions of its former content moderators in Kenya could potentially be relevant to the ongoing case against Meta in the Kenyan High Court. 

On September 20, the Supreme Court’s ruling established a precedent that could strengthen the petitioners’ case against Meta in the High Court. The ruling determined that foreign companies like Meta can be held accountable for their actions in Kenya, even if those actions were carried out through third-party contractors.

However, the ruling may not directly apply to the case’s specific facts against Meta. The High Court will need to consider the case’s unique circumstances, including the nature of the alleged human rights violations and the role that Meta’s algorithmic recommendation systems played in promoting harmful content, a human rights advocate told TechCabal. 

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