Sama (formerly Samasource)

Data vendor, HQ United States, founded 2008. Sells lidar and 3D point cloud annotation for AVs, AMRs and AGVs. In 2026 Meta paused, then ended, its work with Sama after reports that Kenyan annotators viewed private Ray-Ban Meta smart-glasses footage; Sama sacked more than 1,000 workers. Earlier: Time's 2023 investigation into Kenyan workers labeling toxic text for OpenAI, and Kenyan court cases over Facebook moderation.

Data it collects

Workers in

IndiaKenyaUganda

Known buyers

Scale

• 1,000+ Nairobi workers laid off after Meta ended contract (2026-04-17)
• More than 1,000 Kenyan workers laid off after Meta ended its contract (2026-04-17)

Pay

• OpenAI project workers in Kenya took home about $1.32 to $2 per hour (Time, Jan 2023). Sama says its teams 'receive living wages and full benefits' (Guardian, Apr 2026).
• $1.32 to $2/h Sama labelers for OpenAI (text) time.com ↗ Major outlet
• $12.50/h What OpenAI paid Sama per worker-hour time.com ↗ Major outlet

Events

• 2026-04-16 Sama lays off 1,000+ Nairobi workers after Meta ends contract theguardian.com ↗ Major outlet
• 2026-03-31 Kenya ODPC probes Meta Ray-Ban footage annotation techweez.com ↗ Secondary
• 2026-03-12 Kenya's Data Labelers Association organises 404media.co ↗ Major outlet
• 2024-09 Kenya Court of Appeal: Meta can be sued over moderators peopleofcolorintech.com ↗ Secondary
• 2024-05-22 97 Kenyan AI workers write to President Biden foxglove.org.uk ↗ Major outlet
• 2023-05-01 150 workers pledge African Content Moderators Union time.com ↗ Major outlet
• 2023-03 184 moderators sue Meta, Sama and Majorel techcrunch.com ↗ Major outlet
• 2023-02-06 Kenyan court rules Meta can be sued over moderator conditions jurist.org ↗ Major outlet
• 2023-01-18 Time: OpenAI used Kenyan workers on less than $2 per hour time.com ↗ Major outlet
• 2022-05-10 Daniel Motaung sues Meta and Sama in Kenya business-humanrights.org ↗ Major outlet
• 2022-02-14 Time: Inside Facebook's African Sweatshop time.com ↗ Major outlet

Sources

• Entrepreneur Leila Janah founded Samasource in 2008.wikipedia.org ↗ Secondary 2026-10-05
• San Francisco-based firm that employs workers in Kenya, Uganda and Indiatime.com ↗ Major outlet 2023-01-18
• were paid a take-home wage of between around $1.32 and $2 per hour depending on seniority and performancetime.com ↗ Major outlet 2023-01-18
• Silicon Valley clients like Google, Meta and Microsofttime.com ↗ Major outlet 2023-01-18
• 3D object detection, semantic and instance segmentation, lane and drivable space labeling, HD mappingsama.com ↗ Company claim 2026-10-05
• AMRs, AGVs, and Industrial Environmentssama.com ↗ Company claim 2026-10-05
• More than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company contracted by Metatheguardian.com ↗ Major outlet 2026-04-17
• Sama, a company based in Nairobi to which Meta outsourced content moderation and AI training work, announced on Thursday that the workers were being laid off after Meta terminated a contract.theguardian.com ↗ Major outlet 2026-04-17
• These workers, employed by outsourcing firm Sama at its Nairobi facility, were tasked with labeling what they saw so that Meta’s systems could better understand real-world environments.techweez.com ↗ Secondary 2026-04-01
• She founded Sama in 2008sama.com ↗ Company claim 2026

Every row links to its source, and hovering a link shows the quote it rests on. Research compiled 2026-10-05. Method