Meta Platforms will lay off approximately 8,000 employees—around 10 per cent of its workforce—and eliminate a further 6,000 unfilled roles in May, as it intensifies investment in artificial intelligence (AI).
The parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which employed more than 78,000 people at the close of 2025, announced the decision in an internal memo to staff on Thursday.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has indicated that he expects many technology sector roles—including software development—to be gradually handled by AI-powered systems, such as coding assistants designed to help engineers write and optimise software more efficiently.
“This is not an easy trade-off,” Meta’s chief people officer, Janelle Gale, said in the memo. “It will mean letting go of people who have made meaningful contributions to Meta during their time here.”
Meta, which rebranded from Facebook in 2021 to focus on the “metaverse”, has increasingly leveraged AI to recommend content and develop creator tools across its platforms. It has also introduced generative AI features that assist users and creators in producing images, captions, and videos more efficiently, alongside AI assistants integrated into messaging services such as WhatsApp.
In 2022 and 2023, Zuckerberg announced major layoffs as part of what he termed a “year of efficiency”. In March 2025, the company dismissed approximately 700 employees across several divisions, followed by further cuts of between 1,000 and 1,500 staff in January.
Meta reported total revenue of $200.97 billion (£162 billion) for 2025 and has projected first-quarter 2026 revenue of between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion. Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp collectively generated more than $24.7 billion in operating income during the fourth quarter of 2025.
