Meta lays off employees in several teams

Several teams at Meta were affected by layoffs on Wednesday, the company confirmed in a statement to TechCrunch, noting that these changes were made to reallocate resources within the company. The layoffs appear to have affected employees in threads, recruiting, legal and design, among others, according to social media posts announcing the layoffs from TechCrunch.

“Today, some teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and site strategy,” a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This includes moving some teams to other locations and moving some employees to other roles. In situations like this where a position is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for the affected employees.”

Meta did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment on how many employees were affected. A former employee affected by Wednesday's layoff told TechCrunch that more than a dozen employees on his team were let go via video call on Wednesday. Some employees laid off on Wednesday received six weeks of severance pay, according to the former Meta employee. (The employee spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.)

According to The Verge, employees at Reality Labs, Instagram and WhatsApp were also affected by the layoffs.

In recent years, Meta has laid off a large portion of its workforce as it looks to downsize the company following an aggressive pandemic shutdown. In 2022, Meta laid off around 13% of its workforce, or 11,000 employees, for which CEO Mark Zuckerberg took personal responsibility. In 2023, Meta laid off an additional 10,000 employees and retired 5,000 open positions that had not yet been filled.