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Earlier this year, Swedish newspapers\u00a0Svenska Dagbladet\u00a0and\u00a0G\u00f6teborgs-Posten published a joint investigation that found contract workers in Kenya were being made to review sensitive and personal footage captured by Meta\u2019s Ray-Ban smart glasses, including video of people using the bathroom, getting dressed, and having sex.<\/p>\n
In April, Meta reduced those workers\u2019 exposure to disturbing imagery\u2014not by offering them new protections or by installing new safety features to reduce the amount of inappropriate material being filmed, but by ending its contract with the company those contractors worked for. The Guardian was first to report that\u00a0more than 1,000 of those workers, who were employed by a Kenyan company called Sama, were laid off as a result of Meta severing ties. So nothing got fixed, but at least Meta won\u2019t have to hear about it now.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ll 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 AI systems get better at identifying things\u2014an extremely tedious and labor-intensive role that requires meticulous attention to every detail on screen. The job was made all the more harrowing for these workers by the footage to which they were exposed. The Swedish investigation found examples of contractors witnessing people using the toilet, getting undressed, watching porn, and having sex\u2014among other things.<\/p>\n
According to The Guardian, Meta blamed the situation on Sama, the company it was contracting with. In a statement to the publication, the company said, \u201cPhotos and videos are private to users. Humans review AI content to improve product performance, for which we get clear user consent. We\u2019ve also decided to end our work with Sama because they don\u2019t meet our standards.\u201d (It\u2019s not quite clear how Sama was responsible for the whole situation, other than the fact that its contractors blew the whistle, which is apparently a bigger violation than, you know, collecting sensitive material and sharing it with a third-party that doesn\u2019t meet your own standards.)<\/p>\n
The workers, of course, are the ones paying the highest price for the whole situation. The Guardian cited information from Oversight Lab, an organization that advocates for workers\u2019 rights in Africa\u2019s tech industry, which said the laid-off contractors got a whole six days\u2019 notice that their jobs would be eliminated. The organization is reportedly helping workers explore their legal options, but that\u2019s not exactly a substitute for income.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n