Meta to reduce workforce by 5% with new layoffs

Meta plans to lay off up to 5% of its workforce based on performance reviews, according to an internal memo to workers Tuesday seen by The New York Times.

“We have decided to raise the bar on performance management and fire poor performers sooner,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a memo. “We typically spend a year removing people who don't meet expectations, but this time we plan to make broader performance-based reductions during this cycle.”

Zuckerberg said in the memo that workers whose roles have been reduced will be replaced by new hires in 2025.

The layoffs come days after Meta announced major changes to its content moderation policies. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads, said it would no longer police certain types of hate speech, such as allowing users on its apps to suggest that LGBTQ identity is rooted in mental illness.

Meta also announced it would stop fact-checking posts, promote political news in its newsfeed, and roll back some of its content moderation rules in preparation for the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald J. Trump has criticized Meta and other technology companies for what he calls censorship of conservative views.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the job cuts. Bloomberg first reported on the layoffs.

On Meta's internal bulletin board, employees asked if the cuts would target specific groups, such as the LGBTQ community or people of color.

“Given what Mark said about DEI last week, do you think these cuts will be for people who don’t have the kind of masculine energy he’s looking for?” one Meta employee asked.

Mr. Zuckerberg announced last week that the company was ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion program, effective immediately. “I think masculine energy is a good thing,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday.

“You want feminine energy, you want masculine energy,” Zuckerberg said. “I think that's fine. But I think the company culture was leaning a little more toward neutrality.”

In a separate memo to management, seen by the Times, Mehta said the job cuts were to ensure the company hired the “best and brightest” and that Mehta would not hire new workers. He said he would be given the ability to do so. Administrators were also told those laid off would receive “generous” severance packages.

This is a developing story. Please check the latest information.