Meta layoffs hit staff at WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs divisions

Meta is reportedly laying off workers across several divisions as part of a continued cost-cutting drive.

First reported by The Verge, roles at WhatsApp, Instagram, and the Reality Labs units are among those in the firing line. The move from Meta appears to coincide with an ongoing reorganization scheme within specific teams.

Some workers have taken to social media in the wake of the move to confirm their roles have been cut. Jane Manchun Wong, who became known for revealing unannounced features coming to apps before joining the Threads team in 2023, is among those affected.

"I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted," she wrote on Threads. "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," a company spokesperson told ITPro.

"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."

This isn't the first time in recent years that Meta's made layoffs. In 2022, it shed 11,000 employees, around 13% of its total workforce, after being overoptimistic about its prospects following the Covid pandemic.

2023, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously described as the ‘year of efficiency’, saw the tech giant lay off another 10,000 workers and cancel 5,000 job vacancies in a bid to reduce headcount and cut costs.

The latest move marks the second batch of layoffs at the Reality Labs division in a matter of months. In the summer, Meta confirmed plans to restructure the hardware unit into two groups, resulting in a small number of job losses.

Meta cuts the latest in another troubling year for big tech

Meta isn’t alone in its cost-cutting efforts in recent years. A host of other major players in the global technology industry have followed suit, largely due to challenging macroeconomic conditions in the wake of the pandemic.

In August, for example, Cisco announced plans to cut thousands of roles - around 7% of its staff - on top of the 4,000 it cut earlier in the year.

At around the same time, Intel announced plans to cut its workforce by 15%, or 15,000 roles, blaming poor returns on AI and saving a reported $10 billion. Dell also cut 12,500 staff, or around 10% of its workforce, on top of a further 20,000 roles shed over the previous 15 months.

Other major tech firms making large rounds of layoffs since the beginning of the year include Microsoft, eBay and PayPal.

However, according to data from Layoffs.fyi, the number of job losses across the tech industry is lower than at the start of 2023, with a total of 263,000 jobs cut across the tech sector last year.

ITPro has approached Meta for comment.