Meta workers push back at use of 'mouse tracker' technology to monitor their moves

"The flyers, which appeared in meeting rooms, on vending machines and atop toilet paper dispensers at the Facebook owner's offices, encouraged staffers to sign an online petition against the move. "Don't want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?" they asked. The pamphlet distribution comes a week before Meta, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is set to sack 10pc of its workforce."

"For months, Meta employees have seethed on internal platforms and online forums over the company's plans to fire workers this year and the introduction of mouse-tracking software, that many employees see as tantamount to helping design their own robot replacements. Workers are legally protected when they choose to organise. The pamphlets and the petition both cite the US National Labour Relations Act, saying "workers are legally protected when they choose to organise for the improvement of working conditions"."

"Meta spokesperson Andy Stone, asked for comment on the matter, pointed Reuters to an earlier statement the company had issued on the mouse-tracking technology. "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," it said."

"In the UK, a group of Meta employees has started organising a drive for unionisation with United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW), a branch of the Communication Workers Union. The employees set up a website to recruit members using the URL Leanin.uk"

Flyers distributed at Meta offices urge employees to sign an online petition against planned workforce cuts and AI-related changes. The materials frame the mouse-tracking software as helping design workers’ own robot replacements. The actions represent visible labour organising inside the company as staff channel anger over firing plans and surveillance tools into collective efforts. Unions are not legally banned at Meta in the US, though the company has taken an aggressive stance toward worker organisation. Meta says mouse-tracking data is needed to build computer agents that reflect real user behaviour, including mouse movements and navigation. The petition cites the US National Labour Relations Act, and UK employees have begun unionisation with UTAW, using a recruitment website.

Read at Irish Independent