In April, Meta reduced those workers’ exposure to disturbing images — not by providing them with new protections or installing new security features to reduce the amount of inappropriate content being filmed, but by terminating its contract with the company for which those contractors worked. The Guardian was first to report that more than 1,000 workers employed by a Kenyan company called Sama had been laid off as a result of the breakup by Meta. So nothing went right, but at least the meta won’t have to hear about it anymore.
If you recall, the contractors working for SAMA were primarily working as data annotators. They were tasked with reviewing footage captured by Meta smart glasses users and labeling it to help improve the AI system at identifying things – an extremely difficult and labor-intensive role that requires careful attention to every detail on the screen. The footage that surfaced in front of these workers made the work more painful for them. The Swedish investigation found examples of contractors watching people use the toilet, undress, watch porn and have sex, among other things.
According to The Guardian, Meta blamed Sama, the company he was under contract with, for the situation. In a statement to the publication, the company said, “Photos and videos are private to users. Humans review AI content to improve product performance, for which we obtain explicit user consent. We have also decided to end our work with Saama because they do not meet our standards.” (It’s not entirely clear how SAMA was responsible for the entire situation, except for the fact that its contractors blew the whistle, which is obviously a major violation when, as you know, collecting sensitive material and sharing it with third parties that doesn’t meet your own standards.)
Of course, workers are the ones paying the highest price for the whole situation. The Guardian cited information from Oversight Lab, an organization that advocates for workers’ rights in Africa’s tech industry, which said laid-off contractors were given a full six days’ notice that their jobs would be terminated. The organization is reportedly helping workers explore their legal options, but it is not actually a substitute for income.
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