A Kenyan worker issued a 14-day ultimatum to TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, with a raft of demands over the mistreatment of the company's content moderators in Kenya.
In a 13 paged demand letter issued on June 29, 2023, Kenyans.co.ke learnt that James Odhiambo lamented over working conditions the moderators were subjected to, revealing that he was affected by the graphic content he had seen since being tapped for the role.
Through his lawyer, Mercy Mutemi of Nzili and Sumbi Advocates, Onyango revealed that they were not directedly hired by ByteDance but their services were outsourced by another entity.
He indicated that the moderators watched content that affected their mental well-being regretting that the outsourcing company was not offering sufficient counselling to the workers.
"You mandated at times that our client watches 250-360 videos per hour during his shifts.
"Specifically, he reviewed abhorrent content that depicted among others: abuse of children and defilement, dismemberment of babies, kittens and other animals, suicide and self-harm, rape and sexual assault and graphic violence, torture and murder," read the letter in part.
On the other hand, Onyango claimed that the moderators were forced to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) without reviewing their contents contrary to the country's labour laws.
"Your client's employment contract confirmed it would be renewed yearly, save in circumstances of poor performance or lack of work. Despite that, in April 2023, you did not renew our client's contract, despite his consistently, excellent work performance.
"It is clear you refused to renew his contract in retaliation for him daring to stand up for his rights and for the rights of his colleagues," read the letter in part.
Consequently, Odhiambo demanded that ByteDance publicly acknowledges wrongdoing, compensate former employees, and allow their employers to join a union of their choice among others.
It was also demanded that the company also initiates measures to protect its employees from toxic content.
However, in response to the allegations, the outsourcing company told American news publisher Time.com that ByteDance controlled its operations.
“ByteDance is the true employer of all TikTok moderators, regardless of its choice of outsourcer,” read the statement in part.
ByteDance was yet to comment on the matter by the time of publishing this piece.
