Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, is reportedly planning a fresh round of layoffs in 2025, expected to start today or anytime this week. Reported first by Reuters, the company is expected to announce the same anytime this week, though it has already communicated the same through an internal memo. Meanwhile, estimates suggest that around 3000-3500 employees may be affected by this new job cut exercise.
The Mark Zuckerberg-led company informed its employees about the layoffs via an internal memo. However, official notices to the affected employees are expected to be served starting at 5 AM local time on Monday in several countries, including the United States.
Meanwhile, in regions such as Europe, Asia, and Africa, these job-cut notices will be sent between February 11 and February 18. However, due to strict local regulations and labour laws, employees in countries like Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands will be exempt from this new round of layoffs.
Meta is no stranger to layoffs, and this latest development continues a trend of workforce reductions seen over the past few years. In 2022, the social media giant laid off 11,000 employees (13% of its workforce). In 2023, the company cut nearly 10,000 positions and withdrew 5,000 unfilled roles as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency.”
Meta, while laying off thousands of employees, is simultaneously accelerating the hiring process for machine learning (ML) engineers and other critical artificial intelligence (AI)-driven roles. The report suggests the same, citing a separate memo posted by the VP of Engineering for Monetization, Peng Fan. According to the memo, this process will take place between February 11 and March 13.
The AI team expansion move isn’t surprising, as a few days ago, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a $65 billion investment to boost the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure this year. At that time, Zuckerberg stated that the investment would primarily be allocated to developing a data center exceeding 2 gigawatts (2GW+) and expanding the AI team.
Interestingly, Mark Zuckerberg termed 2025 as “a defining year for AI.” Zuckerberg believes that Meta AI will reach more than 1 billion users by the end of this year (2025).
Meta is not alone in its layoff exercise in 2025, as multiple US tech companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, have announced job cuts. According to data from The Challenger, around 49,795 jobs were cut in January 2025 across the US, up 28% from the 38,792 announced in December. However, this number is 40% lower compared to the same month (January 2024) of the previous year, which saw 82,307 job cuts.
