Interview: ‘Colonial patterns of exploitation are being digitized’

African feminist political economist Joanita Najjuko on the global outsourcing of content moderation and feminist critiques of capitalism.

More and more tech companies are outsourcing their content moderation to AI and subcontractors. How do you perceive this development?

Joanita Najjuko: These strategies reflect a shift away from traditional employment towards precarious, outsourced working conditions and algorithmic control. From a Pan-African feminist perspective, this is not a neutral technical or economic decision. It is a political act shaped by neoliberal, capitalist logics of resource exploitation and racialized and gendered labour hierarchies.

What do you mean by that?

Najjuko: Large technology companies benefit from a global system in which profit maximization is pursued through various practices. These include wage arbitrage, i.e. the exploitation of wage differences between the Global North and the Global South. In addition, data is extracted from users without fair compensation. And finally, companies benefit from regulatory arbitrage, i.e. the advantages of weak, fragmented labour protection measures and data regulation, especially in the Global South. This deepens the global divide and reproduces colonial patterns of exploitation, which are now simply being digitized.

Which countries and regions are particularly affected?

Najjuko: Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have become hotspots for digital outsourcing in Africa. The Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for example, is home to numerous content moderation services, including for Facebook. Countries such as India and the Philippines are long-established outsourcing locations. More recently, we have also seen outsourcing to conflict-ridden regions. Large technology companies are targeting parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan and the Sahel. This is mainly due to upheavals in traditional labour markets. A lack of occupational safety and economic despair makes workers particularly vulnerable, especially female workers.

Joanita Najjuko is a Pan-African feminist activist based in Uganda. She works with the Nawi Afrifem Collective as the Digital Economies and the Future of Work Lead. Her work premises at the intersection of economic exploitation and gender oppression, with a focus on how digitalisation, platformisation, and labour shape the broader political economy across Africa.

Why female workers in particular?

Najjuko: Because women disproportionately carry the burden of care work and domestic labour, they face unique economic vulnerabilities and barriers, making their recognition and fair compensation essential to any vision of justice. In the work of content moderation, for example, African women perform undervalued digital work under often unregulated conditions. We see it as a form of digital care work. It ensures the well-being and ‘cleanliness’ of digital spaces, but often remains invisible and highly feminised. This is similar to the care work done in households, hospitals and schools, which is systematically devalued despite its significant importance in sustaining economies and societies. But in the case of content moderation, it must be said that the work is also psychologically brutal. Moderators are exposed to graphic violence and hate speech. We have observed that many of them suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and we are seeing serious consequences, including suicides. There have also been cases where women have suffered miscarriages during or as a result of their work. 

What do you think is necessary to improve the situation?

Najjuko: I believe that globally enforceable labour standards are the most important means of counteracting the big tech companies. One point is a binding convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on digital platforms that covers not only gig and platform workers, but all outsourced areas. We are seeing that traditional workplaces are also becoming increasingly digitalized and new forms of work are emerging. And we need more regional standards, for example through the African Union. Many of our laws have simply been copied and often serve the interests of companies rather than protecting workers. This applies to occupational health and safety regulations, and we need to address things like data sovereignty and frameworks for digital justice that go beyond wages and include the data produced by workers. Enforceable mental health protocols are also crucial, especially when it comes to content moderation.

What demands do you have of the countries in the Global North?

Najjuko: We require due diligence laws that do not just exist on paper, but must ensure that large tech companies comply with labour standards throughout their entire value chain and cannot exploit loopholes. It is crucial that any strategy centers on and involves workers, especially those most marginalised, as equal actors. They must be able to act as equals and not just as supplicants.

A German version of the interview was published in the daily newspaper nd.Der Tag