Meta Employees Protest Mouse-Tracking Software Ahead of Layoffs
- tech360.tv
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Meta employees distributed flyers at multiple US offices, protesting the company’s recent installation of mouse-tracking software on their computers. This action precedes planned staff reductions.
The flyers, which appeared in meeting rooms, on vending machines, and atop toilet paper dispensers, encouraged staff to sign an online petition against the technology.
They questioned, "Don't want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?"
This protest is the most visible sign of a burgeoning labour movement within the social media giant. Some staff are channelling frustration over the company’s AI-focused workforce reshape into organising efforts.
For months, employees have voiced anger on internal platforms regarding deep layoffs and the mouse-tracking software. Many view the software as assisting in designing their own bot replacements.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone addressed the concerns, referring to a prior company statement on the mouse-tracking technology.
The statement said, "If we're building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them — things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus."
Both the pamphlets and the petition reference the US National Labor Relations Act, asserting that "workers are legally protected when they choose to organise for the improvement of working conditions."
Separately, a group of Meta employees in the UK has begun organising a unionisation drive. They are working with United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW), a branch of the Communication Workers Union.
These employees established a recruitment website, Leanin.uk. This URL references former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s best-selling book.
A UTAW representative confirmed the UK campaign to Reuters.
Payne stated, "Meta’s workers are paying the price for management’s reckless and expensive bets. While executives chase speculative AI strategies, staff are facing devastating job cuts, draconian surveillance, and the cruel reality of being forced to train the inefficient systems being positioned to replace them."
Meta employees protested new mouse-tracking software at US offices using flyers and an online petition.
The protest occurs ahead of planned staff reductions at the company.
Meta stated the software gathers data on human computer interaction to train AI models.
Source: REUTERS
