NAIROBI, Sept 20 (Reuters) - A Kenyan court ruled on

Friday that Facebook's parent company Meta could be

sued in the East African nation over the dismissal of dozens of

content moderators by a contractor.

Last year the content moderators sued Meta and two

contractors, saying they lost their jobs with Sama, a

Kenya-based firm contracted to moderate Facebook content, for

trying to organise a union.

They said they were then blacklisted from applying for the

same roles at another firm, Majorel, after Facebook changed

contractors.

Out-of-court settlement talks between the moderators and

Meta collapsed in October last year.

The case could have implications for how Meta works with

content moderators globally. The U.S. giant works with

moderators around the world tasked with reviewing graphic

content posted on its platform.

Friday's decision by the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier

ruling by a Kenyan labour court in April 2023 that Meta could

face trial over the moderators' dismissals, which Meta appealed.

It also upheld a separate ruling in February 2023 that Meta

could be sued in Kenya over alleged poor working conditions,

which Meta also appealed.

"The upshot of our above findings is that the appellants'

(Meta's) appeals ... are devoid of merit and both appeals are

hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents," the judges at

the Court of Appeal said in their ruling.

Meta, Sama and Majorel did not immediately respond to

Reuters requests for comment.

Meta has previously responded to allegations of a poor

working environment in Kenya by saying it requires partners to

provide industry-leading conditions.

Sama has said it has always followed Kenyan law and

provided mental health services to its employees.

Majorel has said it does not comment on pending or

active litigation.

"Meta being sued in Kenya is a wake up call for all Big

Tech companies to pay attention to the human rights violations

taking place along their value chains," said Mercy Mutemi, a

lawyer for the content moderators.