Meta’s main content moderation partner in Africa shuts down operations

Meta’s main subcontractor for content moderation in Africa, Sama, announced the closure of its content moderation arm at its Kenya hub earlier Tuesday, citing the need to streamline operations.

This comes months after Sama and Meta were sued in Kenya for labour violations and exploitation, and just weeks after another lawsuit in Kenya demanded that Meta increase its content moderation capacity. Following Sama’s announcement, 200 employees, or 3% of its workforce, will be laid off as the company exits content review services and focuses on labelling work (computer vision data annotation).