Sama to Lay Off Over 1,100 Kenyan Workers After Meta Contract Ends

Gate News message, April 16 — Samasource Impact Sourcing Inc (Sama), a Kenya-based data labeling firm, will lay off over 1,100 employees in Nairobi following Meta's termination of a major content and data annotation contract. The company issued a formal redundancy notice to 1,108 workers on Thursday, with layoffs expected to take effect later this month in compliance with Kenya's Employment Act.

Meta has been one of Sama's most prominent clients, employing outsourced workers in Nairobi to label and moderate data used to train artificial intelligence systems, including those powering Meta's AI-enabled Ray-Ban smart glasses. Sama said it attempted to engage Meta following the termination notice to preserve jobs, but discussions did not yield a reprieve. The company will extend support to affected staff, including counseling and transition assistance.

The job cuts underscore the volatility and fragility of Africa's AI outsourcing sector, which has positioned Kenya as a critical node in the global artificial intelligence supply chain but remains heavily dependent on a handful of large U.S. technology clients. A recent investigation by Swedish newspapers found that footage captured by users of Meta's AI glasses is routinely reviewed and labeled by contracted workers in Nairobi to help train underlying models, raising questions about privacy, consent, and the global division of AI labor.