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Meta has begun to lay off staff across several of its properties, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs.
This is not a mass company-wide set of layoffs but rather the reorganization of several smaller internal teams, reports The Verge.
Posting on Threads on Wednesday (Oct, 16), Meta security engineer Jane Manchun Wong, one of the affected, let her followers know that she was being laid off, saying “I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted. Thank you to everyone, especially my Threads and Instagram teammates, for my wild journey at Meta”.
“Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” company spokesperson Dave Arnold said in a statement shared with The Verge. “This includes moving some teams to different locations and moving some employees to different roles. In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”
It is unclear at this time how many jobs have been affected by the restructuring.
Still trying to process this but my role at Meta has been impacted. Thank you to everyone for my wild journey at Meta
If anyone is interested in working together on software/security, please reach out via my email / LinkedIn noted on my website
🫡
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) October 16, 2024
Tech layoffs
Tech layoffs have been prevalent throughout the last few years.
Meta laid off 11,000 staff in 2022 following a hiring drive during the pandemic. This amounted to 13% of their workforce at the time.
They went on to lay off an additional 10,000 employees in 2023 as well as closing over 5,000 open positions that it had been hiring for.
Earlier this year online auction site eBay, online payment processor PayPal, communications platform Discord, and tech giant Google were among the many companies which laid off staff.
The trend has slowed but not halted. In August, chipmaker giant Intel announced plans to lay off over 15,000 employees by the end of the year in order to make $10 billion in savings by 2025.
The gaming industry has also seen massive layoffs. In a move that drew criticism from the Communication Workers of America union, Microsoft laid off around 650 staff from its Xbox division in August, despite drawing the attention of the FTC in January over layoffs after the company’s merger with Activision Blizzard.
ReadWrite has approached Meta for comment.
