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A bank has a priority claim to substantially all assets, according to a creditor letter reviewed by TIME. The effect on ongoing Kenyan worker litigation remains unclear.
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Sama is exiting its AI data business as declining revenue amid stronger competition and the cost of defending class-action litigation strained its finances. A November 6 creditor letter listed about $1 million in assets and $17 million in liabilities; the company had transferred its assets to a separate liquidation firm on October 23. The letter does not name the cases it cites or explain the effect on the ongoing Kenyan proceedings, leaving the outcome for creditors and those cases unclear.
Sama previously provided content moderation for Meta and data labeling for OpenAI.
Sama ABC will sell the transferred assets and distribute proceeds to creditors; a bank has priority claims to substantially all of them.
Former Kenyan moderators allege exploitation, unlawful termination, and suppression of organizing; Sama says it complied with Kenyan labor law, and Meta denies responsibility for working conditions.
Sama built its reputation on bringing digital work to marginalized communities in East Africa. Now the former Meta and OpenAI contractor is winding down and selling its assets, according to a November 6 creditor letter reviewed by TIME. An attached, unaudited balance sheet lists roughly $1 million in assets against $17 million in liabilities.
The letter attributes the collapse to falling revenue as competition increased, compounded by recent class-action litigation. It says successfully defending those cases would have required substantial resources and years of work.
Sama previously supplied content moderation for Meta and data labeling for OpenAI, TIME reported. Employees said that work exposed them to traumatic material without adequate safeguards.
On October 23, Samasource Impact Sourcing, Inc., the U.S. company operating as Sama, transferred its assets to a newly formed company called Sama ABC. Its task is to sell those assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors.
Despite the shared name, Sama ABC is not corporately affiliated with Sama, the letter says. It is administered by specialists who liquidate insolvent or financially distressed businesses for creditors.
The letter says a bank has a priority claim to substantially all of the company’s assets. It does not specify what the liquidation means for the ongoing Kenyan case.
In Kenya, former Facebook moderators allege exploitation, unlawful termination and suppression of organizing efforts. Daniel Motaung, fired in 2019 after trying to organize a strike, sued Sama and Meta in 2022. His petition was later combined with one brought by former moderators alleging unlawful redundancy and blacklisting.
Sama has said it complied with Kenyan labor law, while Meta denied responsibility for the working conditions.
Separately, Sama was initially named in several proposed privacy class actions involving data from Meta’s smart glasses. Plaintiffs voluntarily dropped their claims against Sama in August.
The creditor letter defends Sama’s legacy, saying its employment and training model directly affected more than 70,000 lives. TIME received no immediate response from CEO Wendy Gonzalez or Sama ABC representatives, and an email to Sama’s press inbox bounced.
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