More than 1,100 Kenyan workers are facing unemployment after Meta Platforms announced it was ending its content moderation contract with the Nairobi-based outsourcing company Sama, in a move that has reignited debate about the working conditions endured by the thousands of people tasked with keeping social media platforms safe for billions of users worldwide. Sama confirmed the layoffs on April 16, 2026, following a formal notice from Meta to end what it described as a major engagement at its Kenyan office.
The US technology giant hired Sama in 2019 to review and remove harmful, violent, and hateful content from Facebook across sub-Saharan Africa. The work required moderators to watch graphic footage of killings, sexual violence, and other atrocities for hours each day. Former employees and their lawyers say this work caused severe and lasting psychological harm, and that workers were not given adequate support or compensation. In 2023, nearly 200 moderators sacked by Sama sued for unfair dismissal, alleging they were subjected to inhumane conditions including forced labour and irregular pay. A separate complaint was filed in 2022 by a former Sama employee in South Africa.
Sama has disputed these allegations, saying its employees receive a living wage, full benefits, and professional counselling. Meta, for its part, said it was ending the contract because Sama had failed to meet its operational standards. The company said its content moderation work would increasingly rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning models — a transition that will eliminate the need for large teams of human reviewers, but which critics say cannot yet reliably replace human judgment in complex content moderation decisions.
Kenya has become one of Africa’s most important technology outsourcing hubs, with major global companies establishing operations in Nairobi and other cities to serve European, American, and other markets. The Meta-Sama relationship has been among the most high-profile and controversial of these arrangements. The case has drawn attention to the human cost of global content moderation, much of which has historically been performed by low-paid workers in developing countries who are asked to witness the worst content online as a condition of their employment.
The layoffs come at a difficult time for Kenya’s technology sector, which has seen strong growth in recent years but faces mounting competition from other African countries seeking to attract outsourcing investment. Kenyan tech workers and labour advocates say the Meta-Sama case underscores the need for stronger protections for technology sector employees, particularly those in roles that carry unusual psychological risks. For the 1,100 workers facing redundancy, the immediate concern is more pressing: finding new employment in a market that cannot easily absorb such a large sudden influx of experienced but specialised labour.
Sources: Africanews (April 17, 2026), AP News (April 16, 2026), BBC, Reuters, Amnesty International