(Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Meta has cut jobs across WhatsApp, Instagram, Reality Labs, and other units. The layoffs are not part of a company-wide downsizing, but are instead focused on the restructuring of specific teams.
Meta is making these changes to ensure resources for the impacted teams "aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy," says company spokesperson Dave Arnold in a statement. "This includes moving some teams to different locations and moving some employees to different roles."
As part of the restructuring, some employees were asked to choose between severance pay or a different role under a new contract, a former employee tells TechCrunch. Several took the severance package, the source added.
Meta hasn't revealed the exact number of people laid off in the process, but employees who lost their jobs have been posting about it on social media. Among them is Jade Manchun Wong, a security researcher who joined Threads last year and was part of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 list. "Still trying to process this, but my role at Meta has been impacted," tweeted Wong.
In 2022, Meta conducted a mass layoff when it let go of 11,000 employees post-COVID. At the time, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted to being wrong about the need for mass hiring during the pandemic and took responsibility for the consequences.
Last year, Meta let go of another 10,000 employees after Zuckerberg dubbed it their "Year of Efficiency." By comparison, this latest layoff may be a smaller number of total jobs cut.