Informality, Accountability, and Labor Rights for Data Workers in East Africa

Abstract

Although artificial intelligence (AI) and social media platforms are often thought of as amorphous, autonomous technologies, they require a vast unseen human labor force to be produced and operated. Content moderators, who determine if user-generated content meets community guidelines, and data annotators, who train AI models by identifying objects, patterns, and audio, make this tech possible. Data worker vulnerabilities parallel those of workers in the informal economy, where workers have temporary or no work contracts and lack access to social security benefits. This informality undermines data workers’ agency in global supply chains and leads to lower wages, poor working conditions, and minimal social protections. Moreover, the data work outsourcing system is embedded in a broader system of “digital colonialism,” in which value flows out of the Global South while decision-making power remains with actors in the Global North, perpetuating a vicious cycle of exploitation.