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NOPE
Medium reported severity

Kenya: Sama announces more than 1,000 redundancies (1,108 by its own figure) after Meta ends its AI data-annotation contract, less than two months after annotators described intimate footage from Meta's AI glasses, and whether the two are linked is disputed

On 16 April 2026 Sama, an outsourcing company with operations in Nairobi that did AI data-annotation work for Meta, announced that Meta had given formal notice ending its contract and that a redundancy process would affect more than 1,000 employees. Sama put the figure at 1,108 workers, and the Oversight Lab said the workers had six days' notice. The decision came less than two months after the SvD and GP investigation in which Sama annotators said they had seen intimate footage from users of Meta's AI glasses. Meta said it paused its work with Sama the month before while it looked into those claims and then decided to end the work because Sama does not meet its standards. Sama says it was never notified of any failure to meet those standards. A Kenyan workers' organisation alleges Meta's decision was caused by staff speaking out, which Meta had not addressed when the BBC reported it on 30 April 2026. Employees told SvD that Sama tightened security and tried to identify who had spoken to journalists, which Sama denies. The workers are described by role and are not named.

AI system
Meta AI (reported)
Meta
Occurred
16 Apr 2026
Reported
17 April 2026
Event location
Kenya
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Professional Harm
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Work · Privacy
Evidence
AI involvement disputed · Causal attribution disputed · 5 sources, 4 underlying accounts
4 claims: 1 disputed, 3 reported. 8 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1000 people

AI system as recorded: Human review of Meta AI assistant data from Ray-Ban Meta glasses by Sama annotators (AI training and data-annotation work), as reported

Reported harm

Sama announced that more than 1,000 employees in Kenya, many involved in AI training for Meta, would be made redundant (1,108 by Sama's figure, on six days' notice according to the Oversight Lab) after Meta ended its contract. Whether the termination responded to annotators speaking about footage from Meta's AI glasses is disputed: a Kenyan workers' organisation alleges it did, Meta says Sama does not meet its standards, and Sama says it was never notified of a failure.

What remains unknown

  • Sama's press release and Meta's notice of termination were not inspected. The announcement is known through outlets and company statements.
  • The final number of workers made redundant and how many of them worked on the glasses projects are not reported. The Guardian says 'many' were involved in AI training.
  • The reason for the termination is disputed and no inspected source shows Meta's internal reasoning. Meta declined follow-up questions from SvD.
  • The retaliation account rests on a workers' organisation, unnamed employees and one worker quoted by TechPolicy.Press. That worker also says Meta cited only compliance with Kenyan employment law, which differs from Meta's public statement about standards.
  • No source states that the workers made redundant were the same people who spoke to the newspapers, and the annotators' accounts of the footage are anonymous interview accounts.
  • SvD's 19 April 2026 article was paywalled (two paragraphs read), The Standard's article on the Kenyan regulator was paywalled, and the SvD article in this record was read in its English edition.
  • Outlets differ on where Sama is headquartered (the Guardian says based in Nairobi, the BBC says US headquartered, TechPolicy.Press says San Francisco-based with offices in Nairobi, Ars Technica says Kenya-headquartered). This record uses only the location of the workers.
  • This record covers the April 2026 redundancies. The annotators' reported viewing of glasses users' footage started before 2026 and is not part of this record.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: disputed. The workers were data annotators whose work trained Meta's AI systems for its Ray-Ban Meta glasses (c4), and Meta says it paused the Sama work while it looked into claims about annotators viewing private footage from the glasses (c2). No AI system decided anything about the workers: Meta ended the contract and Sama announced the redundancies. The AI link is that the redundancies followed, and are alleged by a workers' organisation to result from, annotators' accounts of a workplace AI practice. Meta gives a different reason and Sama says it was not told of any failure (c3). No relation between an AI system and the workers is established, so the relation recorded is unknown.

4 claims: 1 disputed, 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported On 16 April 2026 Sama, an outsourcing company with operations in Nairobi that did AI-training and data-annotation work for Meta, announced that Meta had given formal notice ending its contract and that a redundancy process would affect more than 1,000 employees. Sama put the number at 1,108 workers. The Oversight Lab, an organisation that advocates for fair technology regulation in Africa, said the workers had six days' notice.

Causal attribution. The announcement and the 'more than 1 000' figure trace to Sama's 16 April press release as reported by SvD, and 1,108 is Sama's figure as reported by BBC and Ars Technica, so they are one chain. The Guardian states 'more than 1,000' in its own voice without a stated source and attributes only the six days' notice to the Oversight Lab. No press release or redundancy notice was inspected directly, and the final number made redundant is not reported.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    announced on Thursday that the workers were being laid off after Meta terminated a contract.
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    More than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company contracted by Meta
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The sacked workers, many involved in AI training, have been given six days’ notice, according to the Oversight Lab
  • svd.se(opens in new tab) supports · English
    In a press release on the 16th April, Sama states it recently received a formal notice by Meta, a key client, that was ending its contract with the annotation firm
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Less than two months later, Meta ended its contract with Sama, which Sama said would result in 1,108 workers being made redundant.
  • arstechnica.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Sama claims that Meta’s cancellation of the contract affected 1,108 workers.
  • techpolicy.press(opens in new tab) supports · English
    On April 16, that routine came to an end.
  • techpolicy.press(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Sama’s April 16 press release announcing the mass layoffs spoke of compliance with Section 40 of Kenya’s Employment Act
Reported Meta said in a statement reported on 17 April 2026 that 'last month' it paused its work with Sama while it looked into the claims, and that it decided to end its work with Sama because Sama does not meet its standards. Sama says it was never notified of any failure to meet those standards. SvD reports that after the investigation was published all Sama projects linked to Meta's smart glasses were halted.

Causal attribution. Meta's and Sama's own statements to the outlets, each attributed. SvD says Meta declined to answer follow-up questions, and no source shows Meta's internal reasoning.

  • svd.se(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Last month, we paused our work with Sama while we looked into these claims.
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    We’ve also decided to end our work with Sama because they don’t meet our standards.
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Meta says it's because Sama did not meet its standards, a criticism Sama rejects.
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    At no point were we notified of any failure to meet those standards
  • svd.se(opens in new tab) supports · English
    After the investigation was published at the end of February, all projects at the subcontractor Sama in Kenya linked to Meta’s smart glasses were halted.
Disputed A Kenyan workers' organisation alleges Meta's decision was caused by the staff speaking out, and, when the BBC reported it on 30 April 2026, Meta had not addressed that allegation. Employees told SvD that Sama tightened security and tried to identify who had spoken to journalists. A worker quoted by TechPolicy.Press says the workers were told the termination was because of the Swedish investigation, without saying who told them. Sama says it does not monitor or track employees to identify who spoke to the media and rejects any suggestion of retaliatory behaviour.

Causal attribution. Allegations by a workers' organisation and by unnamed employees, denied or unaddressed by the companies. The TechPolicy.Press worker also says Meta cited only compliance with Kenyan employment law, which differs from Meta's public statement about standards. No document showing the reason for the termination was inspected.

Reported Sama's Meta work included video, image and speech annotation for Meta's AI systems for Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The Sama annotators who told the Swedish newspapers about viewing private footage from the glasses were data annotators of this kind, and the Guardian reports that many of the workers made redundant were involved in AI training. Meta paused its work with Sama after allegations about the workers viewing private scenes filmed with the glasses.

Causal attribution. Outlet descriptions of the work. Which of the redundant workers worked on the glasses projects is not reported, and no source states that the workers made redundant were the same people who spoke to the newspapers.

  • arstechnica.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    data annotation work, including working with video, image, and speech annotation for Meta’s AI systems for Ray-Ban Metas.
  • bbc.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The workers the Swedish newspapers spoke to were data annotators, teaching Meta's AI to interpret images by manually labelling content.
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The sacked workers, many involved in AI training, have been given six days’ notice, according to the Oversight Lab
  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Last month Meta paused its work with Sama after allegations about the workers viewing private scenes filmed using the company’s Ray-Ban smart glasses

Sources

5 sources inspected, from 4 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

SvD's own English edition of the article, read in English. The Swedish investigation of 25 February 2026 (not cited) was read in Swedish by a language model with no human review. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Kenya. Affected-person countries: Kenya. Court countries: Unknown.

The Guardian describes the workers as 'in Kenya' and SvD refers to Sama's projects in Kenya and its Nairobi operations. Outlets differ on where Sama is headquartered and that is not used. Where Meta took the decision is not stated and is not used.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: The Guardian (17 April), SvD and GP (17 April), BBC (30 April), Ars Technica and TechPolicy.Press (12 June 2026) were read in full from the saved bodies. The redundancy fact and figure trace to Sama's announcement and are left at reported. Meta's stated reasons and Sama's replies are attributed, and the retaliation allegation is recorded as disputed. The workers are described by role and are not named.

People described

Sama employees in Kenya, many doing AI data-annotation work for Meta. They are described by role and are not named

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1000 people

0 AI participants · 1000 other people harmed

The Guardian states 'more than 1,000' workers were sacked without saying where the figure comes from, and SvD's 17 April article says Sama's press release announced a redundancy process that 'will affect more than 1 000 employees'. BBC and Ars Technica give Sama's own figure of 1,108. The lower bound of 1,000 is counted and the 1,108 figure is attributed to Sama. The Guardian says many of the workers were involved in AI training and does not say how many. Dependants are not counted. The final number made redundant is not reported.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Kenya: Sama announces more than 1,000 redundancies (1,108 by its own figure) after Meta ends its AI data-annotation contract, less than two months after annotators described intimate footage from Meta's AI glasses, and whether the two are linked is disputed. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kenya-sama-meta-ai-annotation-contract-ended-over-1000-redundancies-announced

BibTeX

@misc{2026_kenya_sama_meta_ai_annotation_contract_ended_over_1000_redundancies_announced,
  title = {Kenya: Sama announces more than 1,000 redundancies (1,108 by its own figure) after Meta ends its AI data-annotation contract, less than two months after annotators described intimate footage from Meta's AI glasses, and whether the two are linked is disputed},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-kenya-sama-meta-ai-annotation-contract-ended-over-1000-redundancies-announced}
}

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