Meta Platforms began laying off approximately 8,000 employees on Wednesday, with the cuts and transfers expected to affect roughly 10% of its global workforce.
The notification emails dispatched in three regional waves starting at 4 AM local time, as the Facebook parent company accelerates a sweeping restructuring pivot toward artificial intelligence, Reuters reported.
An internal document reviewed by Reuters outlined the plan to downsize the workforce and shift roughly 7,000 employees into new roles specifically centered on AI workflows, with the structural changes beginning Wednesday.
A leaked memo from HR chief Janelle Gale, told North American staff to work from home as the cuts went into effect — a now-familiar protocol for the company during large-scale layoff days.
The memo offered a frank rationale for the restructuring, framing it as an evolution toward a leaner, AI-native organisation.
"As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures," Gale wrote, as reported by Reuters. "We're now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership."
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The cuts are part of a broader strategic overhaul at Meta, which is simultaneously betting enormous sums on AI infrastructure. Meta has guided 2026 capital expenditure to between $125 billion and $145 billion, with most of that going into AI data centres, custom silicon, and model training.
The human cost of the transition, however, is visible internally. Anonymous ratings on Blind show Meta's overall employee score has fallen 25% from its 2024 peak, with the culture rating down 39%.
The layoffs also come amid employee unease over surveillance concerns.
A new internal tool called the Model Capability Initiative, which logs keystrokes and mouse movements to train Meta's AI agents, triggered an employee petition last month asking Zuckerberg to shut it down, Reuters reported.
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He subsequently told staff the data was being used only to teach AI how people work — not for surveillance.
Further rounds of cuts targeting business units are expected in the coming weeks.
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