Kauna Malgwi
Also known as Kauna Ibrahim Malgwi
Kauna Malgwi is a Nigerian clinical psychologist and researcher whose work examines the people behind AI content moderation. She moved to Kenya for a master’s degree in 2018 and began moderating Facebook content through Sama in 2019. In 2023, she helped form the African Content Moderators Union; in 2024, she testified before the European Parliament and appeared on TIME’s AI 100 and BBC’s 100 Women lists. In 2025 and 2026, she published a mental-health proposal for data workers and coauthored studies of African data labour and moderators’ wellbeing. As of October 2026, she is founder of Digital Rights and Mental Health Initiative Africa and chairs the steering committee of the African Content Moderators Union’s Nigeria chapter.
- Now at
- Content Moderators Union in Nigeria
Timeline
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2018–2019
Psychology study and content moderation
In September 2018, she moves to Kenya to pursue a master’s degree at United States International University Africa. In 2019, she accepts a Hausa-language job at Sama and discovers that her contract describes the work as Facebook content moderation.
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2023
Forming an African workers’ union
In 2023, she joins roughly 150 professionals from across Africa in Nairobi to pledge to create the African Content Moderators Union, which seeks better employment terms and working conditions from platform companies.
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2024
TIME100 AI and BBC 100 Women
In 2024, she appears on TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI list and BBC’s 100 Women list. She testifies before the European Parliament in support of content moderators’ rights. As chair of the Nigerian union chapter, she highlights the invisible labour behind AI training.
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2025
Mental-health support for data workers
In 2025, she publishes a proposal for a scalable mental-health intervention for content moderators, annotators, and data labelers, based on her experience as a moderator and registered clinical psychologist.
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November 2025
The hidden cost of AI
In November 2025, she presents a Georgia Tech talk about the human labor behind AI. She calls for fair wages, mental-health support, and work that respects data workers’ dignity.
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December 2025
Mapping African data labour
In December 2025, she coauthors a participatory study that maps data labour across 43 of Africa’s 55 countries and reports short contracts, psychological stress, and economic instability.
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March 2026
Beyond content exposure
In 2026, she coauthors Beyond Content Exposure, a study that surveys 134 moderators across Africa and interviews 15. It finds high distress and lower well-being among African moderators, with former moderators showing higher distress.
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As of October 2026
Founder and union chair
As of October 2026, she is founder of Digital Rights and Mental Health Initiative Africa and chairperson of the steering committee of African Content Moderators Union – Nigeria Chapter. Her work centers mental health, digital labour, and workers’ rights.
Sources and credits
Photo: platform.coop; Kauna Malgwi | Platform Cooperativism Consortium; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: platform.coop. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.
- Interview: The hidden toll of women in content moderation
- Meta’s content moderators in Kenya fight for lost pay
- TIME100 AI: Meet The Black Figures Influencing The Future Of AI
- Meet The Women Of Color Transforming Tech On BBC’s 100 Women List
- Panel 2 — Digital Transformation, AI and Platform Work | TILI Regional Conference 2026
- Kauna - Data Workers' Inquiry
- The Hidden Cost of AI: Content Moderation, Mental Health, and the Fight for Ethical AI in Africa
- Mapping Data Labour Supply Chain in Africa in an Era of Digital Apartheid: a Struggle for Recognition
- Beyond Content Exposure: Systemic Factors Driving Moderators' Mental Health Crisis in Africa