The parent company for social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp known as Meta will lay off 3,600 employees which amounts to 5 percent of its total worker count. Through recent performance assessments, the company will layoff low-performing positions as Mark Zuckerberg states in his push to elevate company standards.
Meta has proceeded with this layoff announcement after earlier workforce cutbacks in the last two years which included 11,000 jobs removed by the end of 2022 followed by an additional reduction of 10,000 employees throughout 2023 while focusing on operational streamlining and targeted growth areas.
Meta plans to communicate layoffs to affected U.S.-based workers by February 10. In the transition period, Zuckerberg committed to giving these employees generous severance packages. Together with these layoffs, Meta announced they're phasing out their official U.S. fact-checking operations in favour of a community-based content management method similar to Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) while implementing new content policy directions. The firm shows its readiness to allow more free speech alongside the necessary monitoring through its reduced content boundaries around divisive subjects.
Major corporations, including Microsoft and CNN, announced workforce reductions during 2025 while the entire industry experienced extensive layoffs. Meta's latest corporate activities demonstrate technology sectors' high-performance priorities as companies shift towards improving efficiency through AI technologies.
FAQs
Why is Meta conducting layoffs?
Meta uses layoffs both to raise employee performance levels across their workforce and to remove workers with poor performance metrics.
How will employees be selected for layoffs?
It is based on recent performance review ratings.
What type of support does employees receive after being laid off?
Generous severance packages.
Are there any other changes at Meta?
Meta will terminate its fact-checking program in the U.S. and ease its content moderation requirements.