Meta is set to begin a new round of layoffs potentially impacting 8,000 people, roughly 10% of its workforce, as the company continues its aggressive pivot toward AI. According to CNBC, the layoffs began on Wednesday, coinciding with the scrapping of plans to fill 6,000 open positions. Sources familiar with the matter suggest further reductions could follow in August and throughout the fall. The company informed staff that these measures are part of an ongoing effort to run more efficiently and offset massive investments in AI infrastructure. CFO Susan Li noted during the Q1 earnings call that leadership remains uncertain about the company's "optimal size" for the future.
Meta ended the first quarter of 2026 with 77,900 employees, a 1% decline from late 2025. While previous cuts aimed to curb excessive spending on the metaverse, executives are now explicit that jobs are being traded for computing power. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the efficiency gains from AI, stating, "we are seeing more and more examples where one or two people are building something in a week that would have previously taken dozens of people months."
The restructuring is compounded by internal friction over a new tracking technology used to train AI models. Employees are protesting the "Model Capability Initiative" (MCI), which monitors mouse movements, keystrokes, and takes screen snapshots. An internal memo from a Staff AI research scientist explained that the goal is to improve AI models in areas where they struggle to replicate human-computer interaction.
In response, employees are distributing flyers across U.S. offices urging colleagues to sign a petition against the "Employee Data Extraction Factory." The petition claims that Meta failed to provide required privacy reviews and that the outlined mitigations were vague. Furthermore, employees pointed out a double standard, alleging that executives were granted a selective opt-out from the surveillance. "Collecting and repurposing this kind of data raises serious concerns around privacy, consent, and trust in the workplace," the petition stated.
