More than 1,000 low-paid employees in Kenya were abruptly dismissed by Sama, a Nairobi-based outsourcing company that provided content moderation and AI training services to Meta, after Meta terminated the contract. Rights groups and labour advocates say the mass layoffs expose how precarious tech-sector work in the global south can be when contracts with major platforms are ended.
Recent reports said some Kenyan data annotators working for Sama had been asked to review footage captured by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, including intimate and disturbing scenes. The Oversight Lab, an advocacy group that promotes fair tech deployment across Africa, said the affected workers — many employed to train AI systems — were given six days’ notice and that the group is advising them on legal options.
Sama has previously faced scrutiny: earlier mass layoffs of its content moderators prompted a 2024 civil lawsuit in which 140 former workers alleged they suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety after repeatedly viewing disturbing online material.
Meta told reporters it paused work with Sama following the allegations and subsequently ended the relationship, saying the vendor did not meet its standards. Meta added that photos and videos are private to users and that humans review AI content to improve product performance with clear user consent.
In a statement, Sama acknowledged the impact of the contract termination and said it was supporting affected employees with care and respect. The company described itself as a responsible corporate citizen and said teams received living wages, full benefits, wellness resources, medical coverage and on-site counselling.
The Oversight Lab called the layoffs devastating and warned that current contracting practices undermine youth employment, harm the local economy and do little to advance Kenya’s role in the global AI ecosystem. Former Sama employee Kauna Malgwi said the episode is not limited to one company or one contract, arguing it reflects a wider power imbalance: large tech firms retain control while risks are shifted to outsourced workers in the global south who often have the least protection.
The case comes amid broader scrutiny of major platforms. Last month a Los Angeles jury found that Instagram and YouTube, owned by Meta and Google respectively, had designed features that deliberately fostered addictive use and contributed to harm suffered by a young user, a development that has intensified debate about platform responsibility and the human costs of content moderation.