Meta faces £1.8bn lawsuit over claims it inflamed violence in Ethiopia
Meta faces a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa.It is also seeking a $2.
4bn “restitution fund” for victims of hate and violence incited on Facebook.One of the claimants is the son of Prof Meareg Amare Abrha, who was murdered at his home in Ethiopia after his address and threatening posts were published on Facebook in 2021 during a civil war in the country.Another claimant is Fisseha Tekle, a former researcher at Amnesty International who published reports on violence committed during the conflict in Tigray in northern Ethiopia and received death threats on Facebook.Meta has argued that courts in Kenya, where Facebook’s Ethiopia moderators were based at the time, did not have jurisdiction over the case.The Kenyan high court in Nairobi ruled on Thursday that the case fell within the jurisdiction of the country’s courts.
Abrham Meareg, the son of Meareg, said: “I am grateful for the court’s decision today.It is disgraceful that Meta would argue that they should not be subject to the rule of law in Kenya.African lives matter.”Tekle said he cannot return home to Ethiopia because of Meta’s failure to make Facebook safe.“Meta cannot undo the damage it has done, but it can radically change how it moderates dangerous content across all its platforms to make sure no one else has to go through what I have,” he said.
“I look forward to this matter now being heard by the court in full.”The case, supported by non-profit organisations including Foxglove and Amnesty International, also demands a formal apology from Meta for the murder of Meareg.The Katiba Institute, a Kenya-based NGO focusing on the Kenyan constitution, is the third claimant in the case.In 2022 an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer found that Facebook was letting users post content inciting violence through hate and misinformation, despite being aware that it was fuelling tensions in Tigray.Meta rejected the claims at the time, saying it had “invested in safety and security measures” to tackle hate and inflammatory language along with “aggressive steps to stop the spread of misinformation” in Ethiopia.
In January the company said it was removing factcheckers and “dramatically” reducing the amount of censorship on the platform, although it would continue to tackle illegal and high severity violations,Meta said it did not comment on ongoing legal matters,
Lib Dems hoping anti-Trump stance will give them boost in local elections
The Liberal Democrats are stepping up their anti-Donald Trump messaging this weekend in the hope of using dislike of the US president among Tory and Labour voters to make big gains in England’s council and mayoral elections on 1 May.Ed Davey’s party believes it could overtake the Tories in terms of the number of councils under its control, partly by highlighting the reluctance of Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch to criticise Trump on issues such as tariffs, his dealings with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, over the war in Ukraine and his attitude to the Israel-Gaza crisis.With global stock markets tumbling after Trump’s imposition of punitive tariffs on the rest of the world last Wednesday, the local elections are set to take place in a period of economic uncertainty unmatched since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic.While local government issues will inevitably still dominate on 1 May, Trump’s actions are now rebounding directly on ordinary voters, not just in the US but internationally, as the economic clouds gather and the value of their pensions and other savings become far less certain.Yesterday – as her party continues to look for novel ways to engineer a “Trump bump” on 1 May – a Liberal Democrat MP called for a special visa route to allow Americans fleeing the Trump presidency to come to the UK
Keir Starmer orders UK economic reset amid Donald Trump’s tariff mayhem
Keir Starmer is preparing to rethink key elements of the government’s economic policy in an emergency response to Donald Trump’s tariff blitz, amid growing concern in Downing Street that the US president’s trade war could do lasting damage to the UK.The prime minister believes, say allies, that “old assumptions should be discarded” in the UK’s response, suggesting he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, may be preparing to raise taxes again – despite having promised not to do so – or even possibly change their “iron clad” fiscal rules to allow more borrowing and fire up economic growth at home in the event of recession.Almost $5tn (£4tn) was wiped off the value of global stock markets after Trump launched his tariff offensive last Wednesday on the rest of the world, including a 10% base tariff on imports into the US from the UK.On Friday, the FTSE 100 closed more than 7% lower than last Monday, after what was its worst week since the height of panic over the Covid pandemic in March 2020.Underlining the potential impact on UK businesses of a global trade war, Britain’s luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Saturday that it would “pause” shipments to the US in April as it considered how to respond
‘It could’ve been much worse’: how UK avoided a bigger blow from Trump tariffs
When Jonathan Reynolds gathered with officials around the large television screen in his office to watch Donald Trump unleash his global trade war, he knew little more than anyone else about what was to come.It was Wednesday night and the US president was about to upend a century of global trade with the imposition of sweeping taxes on US imports from around the world.Moments before Trump sauntered on stage, Reynolds had been told to expect a universal baseline tariff of 10% – but he did not know whether anything else would be imposed on top. The expectation in government was that the UK would be hit with a 20% rate, which the Treasury watchdog had warned could wipe 1% off UK GDP.As Trump brought out his sandwich board of global tariffs, Reynolds and his team shared the frustration of many viewers across the world – the board kept slipping behind the White House lectern and obscuring the all-important figures next to countries’ names
Over 60 Reform UK candidates in local elections are Tory defectors, study finds
More than 60 of Reform UK’s council candidates standing in this year’s elections are defectors from the Conservative party, according to research from the Labour party.Reform has also selected an ex-Conservative for its candidate in the upcoming Runcorn and Helsby byelection, while the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire is the former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who lost her parliamentary seat in West Yorkshire last July.All but one of Reform’s MPs, including the party leader, Nigel Farage, were previously members of the Conservative party.Labour has accused Farage’s party of a “mass rebrand” as Reform populates its ranks with candidates seeking to “save their own political careers” after the Conservatives suffered huge losses in the 2024 general election.A Reform spokesperson said: “This is less than 4% of all our 1,630 candidates
UK politics: Unite hits back at Starmer over Birmingham bin strike, questioning Labour’s backing for ‘working people’– as it happened
The war of words between Keir Starmer and the Unite union is escalating. After No 10 issued a strong statement criticising its conduct in the Birmingham bin strike (see 1.32pm), Unite has hit back, questioning Labour’s commitment to “working people” and saying the government should intervene directly in the dispute and force the council to settle.In a statement issued in response to what Downing Street said earlier, Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said:It is not surprising that many workers in Britian question the Labour government’s commitment to working people when it issues a statement clearly blaming bin workers in a dispute not of their making.The bottom line about this dispute is that these workers woke up one morning to be told they would be taking up to an £8,000 pay cut
Downing Street says Trump’s tariffs signal ‘new era’ in global economics
Donald Trump’s tariffs signal a new global economic era, Downing Street has said, as economists warned that the British government would probably have to raise taxes in response.No 10 said on Friday the prime minister believed that this week’s trade announcement by the US president, which has started a global trade war and sent stock markets tumbling, marked a turning point in history.Keir Starmer is due to speak to European and Commonwealth leaders in a series of calls over the next few days before setting out on Monday how he intends to respond more fully.Senior MPs have called on him not to give too much ground to Washington in trade talks, cautioning against trying to become “the 51st US state”.The prime minister is expected to say next week that he wants to cut red tape and remove more planning restrictions in order to boost growth, but experts say this is unlikely to fill a new black hole in the autumn budget
Sara Pascoe: ‘I still identify as an infertile, childless woman’
Send in the clowns: Bristol congress to explore role of comedy in tricky times
‘My father’s death saved my life’: director Steve McQueen on grief, gratitude and getting cancer
From A Minecraft Movie to Black Mirror: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment
Noel Clarke allegations had ‘high public interest’, Guardian editor tells court
Seth Meyers on Trump’s tariffs: ‘Mafia-style governance designed to bully the world into submission’