Meta employees are rising up against a new company-wide policy requiring the installation of invasive keystroke and mouse-tracking software on every US employee’s computer to train its AI models.

The backlash comes in the form of a pamphlet – now being handed out by the disgruntled employees – encouraging staffers to sign a petition declaring the practice a potential violation of the US National Labor Relations Act.

The flyers – comparing Meta to an “Employee Data Extraction Factory” – were distributed at multiple Meta offices on Tuesday, appearing in meeting rooms, on vending machines, and even on top of toilet paper dispensers, according to photos seen by Reuters, which first reported the story.

Also printed on the flyers is one of the foundational principles taken from Section 7 of the US National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), stating that "Workers are legally protected when they choose to organize for the improvement of working conditions."

Passed in 1935, the NLRA not only protects the rights of private-sector employees to organize and collectively bargain for better working conditions, but also safeguards them from employer retaliation, according to LaborLab, a union-busting watchdog group.

Meta workers fight back

The controversial tracking policy was announced by the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company in an April 22nd memo, first posted to a Meta SuperIntelligence Labs (MSL) internal channel, triggering an immediate uproar among employees as the news spread.

Meta’s goal, according to the memo, is to improve the company’s AI models in areas where they still struggle to mimic human-computer behavior – such as navigating dropdown menus and using keyboard shortcuts.

The software, dubbed the Model Capability Initiative (MCI) was described in the memo as a tool that runs on work-related apps and websites and “takes occasional snapshots of the content on employees’ screens.”

The timing of the new employee "surveillance" initiative could not be worse for worker morale.

Just days before the memo was first posted, not only did Zuckerberg announce he would ax another 10% of Meta's workforce on May 20th, the tech mogul blamed the 8,000 layoffs on increased AI spending.

What's more, Meta said another wave of layoffs is planned for the second half of the year. The company previously announced in March it would cut about 20% of its staff by the end of the year to offset AI costs.

Meta points to AI ambitions

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone, when asked for a response on the matter Tuesday, pointed Reuters to an earlier comment he 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," Stone said.

Stone also claimed at the time that any data gathered via MCI “would not be used for performance assessments or any other purpose besides model training and that safeguards were in place to protect sensitive content," although he did not elaborate on how the sensitive content would be defined.

It’s also not the first time Meta employees have united for a cause. Back in 2025, employees also revolted against management after the company began removing tampons from the men’s bathrooms.

In protest – or apparently in solidarity with the nonbinary and transgender employees using the product – Meta workers also circulated a petition demanding their return.

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