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Thu, 30 Apr 2026

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 Meta in row after workers who say they saw smart glasses users having sex lose jobs

Meta and its subcontractor disagree over why over 1000 Kenya-based workers were made redundant.

* Meta cancelled its contract with Sama, a company that trained AI on behalf of Meta, after some workers alleged they had to view graphic content captured by Meta smart glasses.
* The workers, who were data annotators, manually labelled content and reviewed transcripts of interactions with the AI to check it answered questions adequately.
* Some workers said they witnessed users going to the toilet or having sex while wearing the glasses, which are meant to translate text or answer questions about what the user is looking at.
* Meta says it ended the contract because Sama did not meet its standards, but Sama disputes this and alleges that Meta's decision was caused by the workers speaking out.
* The revelation has prompted regulators to act, with the UK data watchdog and Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner launching investigations into privacy concerns raised by the glasses.
* Meta admitted subcontracted workers might sometimes review content filmed on its smart glasses when people shared it with Meta AI, but said this was for the purpose of improving the customer experience.
* Sama defended its work and stated that it had consistently met operational, security and quality standards required across all client engagements, including with Meta.