Mercy Mutemi

Mercy Mutemi is an advocate dedicated to taking on cases that shape our digital future.

She is the lead advocate in a case challenging the Facebook algorithm for prioritizing dangerous and inciteful content and for being discriminatory against African users. At the same time, she is litigating three labour rights cases by Facebook and TikTok Content Moderators who suffered mental health harm from doing content moderation work. Her vision is to fight for fair and responsible roll out of technology in African countries. African countries and Big Tech companies must safeguard the workforce behind the rollout of technology while simultaneously ensuring that African users consume safe and quality technology.

Mercy is heavily invested in pursuing fair Internet and Tech policy through litigation. To this end, she is currently litigating a case asking the courts to declare access to the Internet a basic right in Kenya, to facilitate access to crucial government services which are now online. If successful, this case could see a drop in the cost of Internet access and more policies geared towards achieving universal access. She was also involved in the public interest litigation challenging the roll out of the Huduma Namba and the Device Management System. As a result of these cases, the courts have given clear guidelines on how to roll out biometric and surveillance systems that respect and uphold human rights.

She is also committed towards upholding freedom of expression online through litigation. She is currently in court challenging the Fake News offences in the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act which have been used to shrink civic participation by arresting dissenting voices. She represents local and international media houses who have been sued for publishing investigative pieces exposing violation of human rights. It is hoped that through her work the courts will uphold freedom of expression online and freedom of the media.

Mercy is the Managing Partner at Nzili & Sumbi Advocates which has two brances - Nairobi and Mwingi. Through her Mwingi office, she has been able to take on impactful public interest litigation cases such as a constitutional petition challenging the forcible vaccination of children without parental consent.

She was featured as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Women in Kenya and honored by the Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 Next Emerging Leaders.