Samasource Impact Sourcing Inc will lay off 1,108 workers in Kenya after American Social Media Giant, Meta, terminated a major content moderation and data annotation contract, dealing a sharp blow to the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
- •The San Francisco–based BPO firm said it had issued formal redundancy notices covering staff at its Nairobi delivery centre, with the cuts expected to take effect later this month in accordance with Kenya’s employment law.
- •The affected roles are largely tied to the discontinued Meta workstream, which has been central to Sama’s local operations.
- •The layoffs underscore the concentration risk facing Kenya’s BPO sector, where a small number of U.S. technology companies account for a significant share of high-volume digital work.
“As is standard in our industry, client programmes evolve, and we work closely with our partners to manage these transitions responsibly. Our immediate priority is supporting our employees through this change and ensuring continuity across our broader operations,” said Annepeace Alwala, Sama’s country lead and vice-president for global delivery
Nairobi has become a key hub for data annotation and content moderation work, which are labour-intensive services underpinning artificial intelligence systems, but contracts can shift abruptly as clients recalibrate strategy, automate processes, or move work across jurisdictions.
Sama did not disclose the value of the Meta contract, though the engagement had anchored a substantial portion of its Kenyan workforce in reviewing and labelling data used to train AI models, including content generated through Meta’s consumer hardware ecosystem. The company said it had engaged the client in an effort to preserve roles, without success, and would provide transition support to affected employees.
The job cuts are likely to reverberate across Kenya’s labour market, particularly among young, digitally trained workers drawn into “impact sourcing” roles that have been promoted as an entry point into the global technology economy.
The model, which pairs multinational clients with lower-cost labour markets, has expanded rapidly in East Africa but remains structurally dependent on external demand and subject to intense competition across many developing countries.
During the Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) convened weeks ago, the government announced a US$10 million investment pledge by ADEC Innovations, signalling the positioning of business-process outsourcing as a scalable source of employment, with 2,000 jobs tied to the commitment. The focus on BPO as a jobs engine reflects Nairobi’s broader strategy to anchor digital work as a pillar of growth, even as the sector remains exposed to the shifting priorities of foreign clients.
The retrenchment also lands against a backdrop of sustained scrutiny over working conditions in content moderation and data-labelling roles. For years, Sama’s relationship with Meta has been entangled in legal disputes and labour complaints tied to the psychological toll and contractual structure of outsourced moderation work.
In 2024, the Court of Appeal ruled that Meta Platforms could be sued in the country over its role in outsourced content moderation, rejecting arguments that the U.S. firm lay beyond local jurisdiction. The decision allowed a group of moderators, formerly engaged through Sama, to pursue compensation claims tied to working conditions and alleged harm.
The litigation followed earlier disputes in which moderators challenged redundancy processes and sought improved safeguards, highlighting tensions inherent in a model where global platforms outsource sensitive digital labour to third-party contractors. Sama has since exited direct content moderation for Meta, but the legacy of those engagements has continued to shape both regulatory attention and client risk assessments.
