What is the story about?
There is a particular kind of corporate panic unique to the AI era: the fear that every click, every shortcut, every tiny movement you make at work may be helping train the system that eventually makes your job obsolete.
Inside Meta, that fear is no longer quietly simmering in private chats or anonymous forums. It is now appearing on toilet paper dispensers, meeting room walls and office vending machines.
This week, employees across several Meta offices in the United States distributed protest flyers condemning the company’s new employee-tracking software, a tool designed to monitor how staff interact with their computers in order to improve Meta’s AI systems, reports Reuters.
The leaflets carried a pointed slogan: “Don’t want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?”
The campaign marks one of the clearest public signs yet that frustration inside Meta is evolving into organised resistance, particularly as the company doubles down on artificial intelligence while preparing another round of deep job cuts.
At the centre of the backlash is an internal programme called the Model Capability Initiative, or MCI.
According to internal memos as reported previously, the software tracks employees’ mouse movements, clicks and keyboard activity while they work. It also reportedly captures occasional screenshots from work-related apps and websites.
Meta says the purpose is to help its AI models better understand how humans use computers in real-world situations.
That includes learning tasks many AI systems still struggle with, such as navigating dropdown menus, switching between applications or using keyboard shortcuts naturally. In one internal memo, employees were told that simply doing their normal jobs could help Meta’s AI models “get better”.
For some staffers, however, the initiative feels deeply unsettling.
Many employees reportedly believe the company is effectively using workers’ behaviour to train autonomous AI agents that could eventually replace parts of the workforce.
Internally, frustration has reportedly been building for months. Employees have criticised Meta’s increasing focus on AI-driven efficiency and expressed anger over the scale of upcoming layoffs, reports Reuters. Some workers also appear uneasy about the broader cultural shift happening inside the company, where human productivity is increasingly being viewed through the lens of training data.
The protest flyers encouraged employees to sign an online petition opposing the tracking initiative, signalling that concerns are moving beyond isolated complaints into something more coordinated.
Meta has framed the initiative as part of its larger push to build more capable AI systems and streamline how the company operates.
The social media giant has been aggressively restructuring around artificial intelligence over the past year, investing heavily in autonomous AI agents that can perform workplace tasks with minimal human input. The company argues these systems will improve productivity and help Meta move faster in an increasingly competitive AI race.
Internally, Meta told employees that the tracking software is focused only on work-related environments and is intended to improve AI performance in practical computing tasks, according to the report by Reuters.
The company has not publicly commented on the employee protests.
Still, the backlash highlights a growing tension spreading across the tech industry. Companies want workers to help build the AI future. Workers increasingly fear they are also helping automate themselves out of it.
As Meta pushes deeper into artificial intelligence, the company is preparing a major workforce shake-up that could affect nearly 8,000 employees worldwide. The planned cuts, which amount to almost 10 per cent of Meta’s global staff, are part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at streamlining operations and accelerating the company’s AI ambitions.
The layoffs are expected to begin on May 20, alongside a hiring freeze impacting roughly 6,000 open positions.
In an internal memo, Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale told employees the company was making organisational changes that would result in job reductions. She added that Meta decided to address the plans sooner than intended after reports about the layoffs surfaced publicly.
Inside Meta, that fear is no longer quietly simmering in private chats or anonymous forums. It is now appearing on toilet paper dispensers, meeting room walls and office vending machines.
This week, employees across several Meta offices in the United States distributed protest flyers condemning the company’s new employee-tracking software, a tool designed to monitor how staff interact with their computers in order to improve Meta’s AI systems, reports Reuters.
The leaflets carried a pointed slogan: “Don’t want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?”
The campaign marks one of the clearest public signs yet that frustration inside Meta is evolving into organised resistance, particularly as the company doubles down on artificial intelligence while preparing another round of deep job cuts.
Meta employees protest against the tracking software
At the centre of the backlash is an internal programme called the Model Capability Initiative, or MCI.
According to internal memos as reported previously, the software tracks employees’ mouse movements, clicks and keyboard activity while they work. It also reportedly captures occasional screenshots from work-related apps and websites.
Meta says the purpose is to help its AI models better understand how humans use computers in real-world situations.
That includes learning tasks many AI systems still struggle with, such as navigating dropdown menus, switching between applications or using keyboard shortcuts naturally. In one internal memo, employees were told that simply doing their normal jobs could help Meta’s AI models “get better”.
For some staffers, however, the initiative feels deeply unsettling.
Many employees reportedly believe the company is effectively using workers’ behaviour to train autonomous AI agents that could eventually replace parts of the workforce.
Internally, frustration has reportedly been building for months. Employees have criticised Meta’s increasing focus on AI-driven efficiency and expressed anger over the scale of upcoming layoffs, reports Reuters. Some workers also appear uneasy about the broader cultural shift happening inside the company, where human productivity is increasingly being viewed through the lens of training data.
The protest flyers encouraged employees to sign an online petition opposing the tracking initiative, signalling that concerns are moving beyond isolated complaints into something more coordinated.
What does Meta have to say?
Meta has framed the initiative as part of its larger push to build more capable AI systems and streamline how the company operates.
The social media giant has been aggressively restructuring around artificial intelligence over the past year, investing heavily in autonomous AI agents that can perform workplace tasks with minimal human input. The company argues these systems will improve productivity and help Meta move faster in an increasingly competitive AI race.
Internally, Meta told employees that the tracking software is focused only on work-related environments and is intended to improve AI performance in practical computing tasks, according to the report by Reuters.
The company has not publicly commented on the employee protests.
Still, the backlash highlights a growing tension spreading across the tech industry. Companies want workers to help build the AI future. Workers increasingly fear they are also helping automate themselves out of it.
Meta to layoff 8,000 employees
As Meta pushes deeper into artificial intelligence, the company is preparing a major workforce shake-up that could affect nearly 8,000 employees worldwide. The planned cuts, which amount to almost 10 per cent of Meta’s global staff, are part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at streamlining operations and accelerating the company’s AI ambitions.
The layoffs are expected to begin on May 20, alongside a hiring freeze impacting roughly 6,000 open positions.
In an internal memo, Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale told employees the company was making organisational changes that would result in job reductions. She added that Meta decided to address the plans sooner than intended after reports about the layoffs surfaced publicly.
