In partnership with Samasource, Facebook is set to open its first ever content review centre in sub-Saharan Africa. The centre would be located in Nairobi, Kenya.
By the end of the year, the fortune 500 company hopes to create employment for about 100 people who would support different languages including Somali, Oromo, Swahili and Hausa. This is also part of the company’s effort to invest across sub-Saharan Africa while ensuring the security and safety of people on its social media platform.
Facebook was sued by the District of Columbia in December 2018 over a privacy breach in which personal information of millions of Americans was transferred by an app developer to Cambridge Analytical. The political consulting firm worked for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Facebook has since been making several efforts to ensure security and privacy. On february 5th 2019, Facebook also partnered with 20 African NGOs to celebrate safer internet day with a campaign spanning across 15 African countries. The campaign was to raise awareness about Internet safety and security concerns such as cyberbullying and cyber-crime.
Fazdai Madzingira, Policy Associate for content at facebook said “We want Facebook to be a place where people can express themselves and freely discuss different points of view, whilst ensuring that it remains safe for everyone.”
In recent times, the social media platform has also been accused of being a means through which fake news is being disseminated. In April 2017, the platform launched a tool that would help its users easily spot fake news and misleading information that spreads on its device
Samasource is a non-profit business with the mission to reduce global poverty by outsourcing digital work to unemployed people in poor countries.
“As one of the largest digital employers in East Africa, we’re excited to partner with Facebook in Nairobi to help keep people on Facebook safe and continue our mission,” Carolyn Komen, Samasource Programme Director said.
She also added that through this partnership, the team will receive extensive training and support, benefit from industry-leading facilities, and also have the opportunity to advance their careers in tech through this partnership.
