SamaSource, the Meta contracted content moderation firm has cutting ties with the company according to reports.
In 2022, a TIME magazine investigation found low pay, trauma and alleged union-busting at its Nairobi office.
There’s also a lawsuit against Meta, Facebook parent company over multiple violations of the Kenyan constitution.
Sama blamed the decision on the “current economic climate,” and said it would entail letting go of approximately 3% of its staff, mostly from Nairobi.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the end of the contract in a statement. “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 worth $3.9 million in 2022, according to internal Sama documents reviewed by TIME. Sama and Meta declined to comment on the figure.
Leila Janah, Samasource CEO died suddenly in 2020
In a span of 3 years, blogger Cyprian Nyakundi lost a lot of pages, AdSense deals and money through the dictatorship of censorship by the content moderation firm.
A Facebook page with over 330k followers and over 280k likers that was giving impressions in excess of millions per day was pulled down. Another one of similar magnitude was taken down.
The explanation from Facebook was opaque. It appears SamaSource was only interested in showcasing that they are working.
Good riddance to Sama Source.
The company would amplify war content in Ethiopia, but moderate, to the level of taking down pages that were anti-corruption in Kenya.
