Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has started informing thousands of employees worldwide about fresh job cuts as the company accelerates its artificial intelligence-driven restructuring.
The latest round of layoffs is expected to affect engineering and product teams most heavily. More job cuts could follow later this year.
The company, led by Mark Zuckerberg, had earlier announced plans to eliminate around 8,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to reduce costs and improve productivity through AI-powered automation.
At the same time, Meta has reportedly reassigned nearly 7,000 employees to newly created AI-focused teams working on AI products, agents and automation tools.
The process reportedly began in Singapore, Meta’s Asian hub, where employees received layoff emails at around 4 am local time. Staff in Europe and the US are also expected to receive notifications based on their respective time zones.
Employees have meanwhile been encouraged to work from home during the restructuring process. Meta had nearly 80,000 employees at the end of March before the latest reassignments and layoffs.
Meta has committed more than $100 billion towards AI-related capital expenditure as Zuckerberg pushes to position the company among global AI leaders competing with rivals such as Google and OpenAI.
In an internal memo Meta’s Head of People Janelle Gale said the company believes smaller and flatter teams can operate more efficiently. The company has already gone through multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years as Zuckerberg intensified his focus on efficiency and AI adoption. Reports also suggest Meta has encouraged engineers to use AI agents for coding and internal operations.
The restructuring has reportedly triggered frustration and anxiety among employees. More than 1,000 staff members have signed a petition urging Meta not to collect extensive device-level data from employees for AI training purposes.
Some workers have also taken to social media to describe declining morale and uncertainty inside the company.
A former employee wrote on X that many employees were either anxiously waiting for layoffs or hoping to be let go because of growing pressure inside the workplace.
