The planned redundancies will be Meta's largest since 2023, coming as the company accelerates spending on artificial intelligence.
Layoffs confirmed
Meta will eliminate 8,000 positions, the company said, in what will be its deepest round of job cuts since 2023. Employees had been expecting the reductions for weeks before the announcement.
The layoffs arrive as Meta significantly increases capital expenditure on artificial intelligence infrastructure — a spending trajectory the company has framed as central to its long-term strategy.
Microsoft moves in parallel
Meta is not alone in restructuring its workforce during the AI buildout. Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to 8,750 employees — the first such programme in the Windows maker's history — as it too reallocates resources toward AI development.
Worker monitoring for AI training
Separately, Meta said it will collect data from the way employees interact with internal systems — including clicks and keystrokes — to train its artificial intelligence models. The firm said the information gathered from workers' day-to-day activity will feed directly into its AI development pipeline.
Regulatory pressure in China
Meta is simultaneously navigating a foreign regulatory obstacle. Chinese authorities are seeking to block the company from acquiring AI startup Manus, tightening scrutiny of the AI industry amid intensifying geopolitical competition with the United States over the technology.
Meta said the proposed transaction "complied fully with applicable law" and that it anticipates "an appropriate resolution to the inquiry."
The attempted acquisition comes against a broader backdrop of US-China tension in the AI sector. The Trump administration has vowed to crack down on foreign technology companies it accuses of exploiting US artificial intelligence models, singling out Chinese firms as the primary concern. A memo attributed to Michael Kratsios, a senior White House technology official, alleged that firms — mainly in China — are wrongfully distilling US AI models.
