Meta Axes Contractors Who Had to Review Explicit Video From Smart Glasses
Meta terminated its contract with Kenyan firm Sama, leading to the layoff of over 1,000 data annotators who reviewed footage from Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, including sensitive and explicit content. The decision followed a media investigation revealing that contractors were exposed to private user videos without adequate protections. Rather than addressing the root issue, Meta cut ties with Sama, shifting blame while leaving workers with minimal notice and no immediate resolution for the ethical concerns raised.
- ▪Contractors in Kenya were required to review private and explicit footage captured by Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, including people using the bathroom and having sex.
- ▪Meta ended its contract with Sama, resulting in the layoff of more than 1,000 Kenyan data annotators who were reviewing the footage.
- ▪The contractors received only six days' notice before losing their jobs, according to Oversight Lab, which is helping them explore legal options.
- ▪Meta claimed Sama did not meet its standards, though it remains unclear how Sama was responsible beyond its workers exposing the issue.
- ▪The data annotation work involved labeling smart glasses footage to improve AI systems, exposing workers to disturbing content without sufficient safeguards.
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Earlier this year, Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten published a joint investigation that found contract workers in Kenya were being made to review sensitive and personal footage captured by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, including video of people using the bathroom, getting dressed, and having sex.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000753521","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"tech","SECTION":"artificial-intelligence","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"artificial-intelligence","TAGS":"artificial-intelligence,meta,meta-ray-bans,smart-glassees","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); In…
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