Tech giant Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is set to lay off approximately 4,000 employees—around 5% of its workforce—according to a Business Insider report. Affected workers will receive notification emails on Monday morning.
Despite these cuts, Meta still has around 1,000 job openings in California, with a focus on machine learning engineers and other critical roles.
Background on the Layoffs
Meta executives describe the cuts as targeting the company’s “lowest performers” and classify them as “performance terminations.” This round of layoffs will affect employees in various countries, except for those in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, where local labor laws prevent such dismissals.
From 2022 to 2023, Meta reduced its workforce by 21,000 employees, or roughly a quarter of its total staff.
University of New Haven business professor James Mohs noted that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has raised performance standards, possibly affecting employees who resist returning to full-time office work. “Those that are not performing up to standards… [some] are working from home and not doing much,” Mohs said, adding that many companies are moving away from remote work due to productivity concerns.
Industry Trends
Meta’s move is part of a larger trend in Silicon Valley, with Workday (Pleasanton) and Salesforce (San Francisco) also announcing recent layoffs. These companies cite the need to reallocate resources toward artificial intelligence (AI) as a driving factor.
Impacted employees will receive severance packages similar to those previously offered to departing workers.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also signaled a shift in policy regarding the incoming administration of President Donald Trump. Last month, the company announced changes to its content moderation system, adopting a new “fact-checking” model similar to X’s Community Notes. The platform aims to foster more open discourse and collaborate with the White House on free speech initiatives globally.
As Meta prepares for these structural changes, employees and industry analysts are closely watching how these decisions will impact the company’s long-term growth and stability. While Meta is positioning itself as a leader in AI innovation, the layoffs raise concerns about workforce morale and the future of the tech job market as other companies follow suit in cost-cutting measures.
