Meta Under Fire After Contract Ends
Friday, 2026/05/01168 words3 minutes253 reads
Meta is facing criticism after ending a contract with Sama, a company that was training its AI systems. The decision came shortly after Kenyan workers reported having to review disturbing content captured by Meta's smart glasses.
In February, workers told Swedish newspapers they had witnessed footage of people using toilets and engaging in sexual activities. The workers were data annotators, teaching Meta's AI to understand images by labeling content manually. They also reviewed transcripts to ensure the AI answered questions properly.
Less than two months after these revelations, Meta terminated its contract with Sama. This resulted in 1,108 workers losing their jobs. Meta claims Sama failed to meet its standards, but Sama strongly disagrees. A Kenyan workers' organization believes Meta ended the contract because employees spoke publicly about reviewing private content.
Regulators in both the UK and Kenya have launched investigations into privacy concerns surrounding Meta's smart glasses. The devices, developed with Ray-Ban and Oakley, include AI features but have raised questions about potential misuse and non-consensual recording.
