Kenyan Data Workers Who Flagged Meta Smart Glasses Sex Videos Fired

When Kenyan data workers told Swedish newspapers in February that their job involved watching Meta smart glasses users use the toilet and have sex, it appears they not only exposed a privacy nightmare but may have also signed their own termination notices.

Less than two months after the revelations, Meta ended its multimillion-dollar contract with Sama, a San Francisco-based outsourcing firm operating in Nairobi’s digital hub. Sama notified 1,108 employees on April 16 that they would be laid off, with just six days’ notice. 

The workers had been labelling sensitive footage captured by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses to train the company’s artificial intelligence.  They reported seeing everything from undressing women to bank card details and sexual acts. 

The timing ignited a fierce dispute. Meta told the BBC it ended the partnership because “they don’t meet our standards”.  Sama, which has defended the quality of its work, said it was never notified of any failure.  A Kenyan workers’ organisation alleged the real reason was the workers speaking out, an accusation Meta has not directly addressed. 

The workers’ accounts have already triggered a UK data watchdog inquiry, a Kenyan privacy investigation, and a class-action lawsuit in the US over Meta’s “designed for privacy” marketing claims.

But for the thousands of young Kenyans who power the global AI economy with low-cost labour, the layoffs feel like insult on injury. The Oversight Lab, an African technology policy group, called the move devastating, warning that “our current strategies are harming our youth, hurting our economy and in no way advance Kenya’s participation in the AI ecosystem.” 

The mass dismissal is the latest chapter in years of legal battles between Meta and its Kenyan contractors. Nearly 200 former content moderators are already suing Meta and Sama, alleging forced labour, human trafficking, and severe PTSD from reviewing graphic online content.  In a landmark ruling, Kenya’s Court of Appeal has already said Meta can be sued in the country, rejecting the tech giant’s bid to shield itself behind outsourcing contracts. 

“Power sits with large technology companies,” Kauna Malgwi, a former Sama worker, told The Guardian. “Risk flows downward, affecting outsourced workers, often in the global south, who have the least protection and highest exposure.”  As Mark Zuckerberg continues to wear his Ray-Ban smart glasses in public, the workers who trained the AI behind them are left jobless, asking whether speaking up is a right or a liability.

Feature Image Credits: NYT