Mercy Mutemi, Nzili and Sumbi Associates

Mercy Mutemi is a digital rights advocate who is dedicated to shaping our digital future through litigation and legislative advocacy.

Some of her work includes litigating freedom of expression cases, cases fighting for the right to privacy, protection from poorly rolled out biometric systems and cases fighting financial surveillance. She views her most important work as seeking a court order declaring the right to access the Internet a basic right, a case that is currently before the Court of Appeal.

Her recent work involves platform accountability where she has successfully litigated cases seeking to hold social media platforms accountable for human rights abuse to their labour force in Kenya.

Part of this work has seen her file a parliamentary petition asking Members of the National Assembly to amend the Employment Act to better protect workers undertaking digital work that may be harmful and to better cater for the new model of work adopted by Big Tech companies.

With Foxglove, Mercy is litigating a case that challenges the Facebook algorithm for prioritising dangerous and inciteful content; and further challenges Meta for not investing enough in content moderation for African countries which has led to dire consequences such as exacerbating the conflict in Ethiopia.

Her vision is to fight for fair and responsible roll out of technology in African countries. African governments and Big Tech companies must safeguard the workforce behind the rollout of technology while simultaneously ensuring that African users consume safe and quality technology.