Facebook to open content review centre in Kenya

Jobless tech-savvy Kenyans may soon have a reason to smile after American social networking company Facebook announced plans to open an office in the country.

The technology company’s office in Kenya, which will serve as a content review center, comes on the backdrop of criticism against the giant for privacy violation.

According to technology outlet, I.T News Africa, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company will partner with leading digital employer Samasource and employ over 100 reviewers within their first year of operations in the country.

These reviewers, consisting of full-time employees and contractors, will reportedly be assigned a host of reported posts to evaluate.

I.T News Africa quoted Facebook’s Public Policy Director for Africa Ebele Okobi saying: “This further highlights our commitment to serving the community of people using our platforms across Africa, as well as our commitment to continuing to invest and partner locally across the continent.”

He added: “I am delighted that through our partnership with Samasource we will be opening our first content review centre here in Africa.”

The reviewers will support a number of languages including Somali, Oromo, Swahili and Hausa and will also work alongside Artificial Intelligence (A.I) technology to identify harmful content.

“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,” said Carolyn Komen, Samasource Program Director.

“Our team will receive extensive training and support, benefit from industry-leading facilities, and have the opportunity to advance their careers in tech through this partnership.”