Meta content moderation partner in Africa, Sama, is exiting the business of content review services, while it shifts focus to labeling work (computer vision data annotation).
This will see Sama let go of about 3% of its workforce, mostly from Nairobi, as it has encouraged the affected staff members to apply for other job opportunities in its Kenya and Uganda offices.
All impacted employees would receive severance packages and well-being support for 12 months after their last day of employment, the company disclosed.
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This move is coming after Sama and Meta were sued in Kenya, which the lawsuit claimed that both companies were guilty of multiple violations of the Kenyan constitution.
Daniel Motaung, a South African national and ex-Sama content moderator, in Kenya last year accused the two firms of forced labor, human trafficking, unfair labor relations, union busting, and failure to provide adequate mental health and psychosocial support.
Also, the lawsuit claimed that the social media site amplified hateful content and failed to hire enough personnel with an understanding of local languages to moderate content.
However, a spokesperson from Meta has confirmed the end of the contract with Sama in a statement.
The statement reads, “We respect Sama’s decision to exit the content review services it provides to social media platforms. We’ll work with our partners during this transition to ensure there’s no impact on our ability to review content,”
Sama’s contract to review harmful content for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, was reported to be worth $3.9 million in 2022, according to internal Sama documents reviewed by TIME.
Sama’s decision also comes at a time when Meta is facing another lawsuit in Kenya over claims that the social media giant failed to employ enough safety measures on Facebook, which has in turn fueled conflicts that have led to deaths, including of 500,000 Ethiopians during the recently ended Tigray War.
Facebook, which is reportedly used by more than 6 million people in Ethiopia, was revealed to be a key avenue through which the dehumanization of Tigrayans spread.
The platform has been held responsible for so many deaths during the war, due to claims that it failed to employ adequate safety measures which led to the death of 500,000 Ethiopians in the war.