Professor Meareg Amare Abrha murder prompts USD 2 billion legal challenge

What it means

The incident raises serious and urgent questions about the dangers posed by algorithms that prioritise virality over safety. 

It also highlights the need for so-called "big tech" companies to put a greater focus on content moderation in the so-called "Global south" and in conflict zones.

• October 2021. 'Facebook papers' leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen and shared with the US SEC revealed Facebook knew it was being used to incite violence in Ethiopia but did little to stop its spread.

• November 2021. Professor Meareg is murdered. A week after his murder, Facebook announced a series of measures intended to address abusive and violent material on its platform in Ethiopia, included reducing the spread of material the company’s automated moderation technology had flagged as being likely to be hate speech.

• December 2022. Professor Abrha's son Abrham, alongside the Katiba Institute and former Amnesty International researcher Fisseha Tekle, filed a GBP 2 billion class-action lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta alleging that Facebook's content moderation was 'woefully inadequate', and that Facebook's algorithm helped fuel the viral spread of hate and violence during Ethiopia's civil war. The lawsuit (or 'petition'), which was filed by London-based legal non-profit Foxglove in Nairobi, Kenya, where Facebook opened a major content moderation hub for Eastern and Southern Africa in 2019, accused Meta of having too few moderators who deal with posts in the Amharic, Oromo, and Tigrinya languages. The suit went on to argue that Facebook's algorithm promoted 'hateful and inciting' content as it is likely to draw more interaction from users.

• April 2023. A Kenyan court granted Abrham and other petitioners leave to sue Meta in California, USA, after they failed to identify the social media company's physical office in the country.

• April 2025. The lawsuit was given permission to go ahead in Nairobi, Kenya.