Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced Tuesday that it will cut 5% of its staff as the social media giant gears up for an “intense year.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the cuts in an internal memo this week, asserting that only the lowest-performing employees at the company will be let go.
“This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our team,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster.”
According to the memo, employees affected by the cuts will be informed by Feb. 10. About 3,600 Meta employees will lose their jobs due to the cuts. Cut workers will receive severance pay in line with what Meta has provided in the past.
The cuts come as Meta reorients itself to appeal to an incoming Trump administration.
Since President-elect Donald Trump won back the White House in November, tech leaders like Mr. Zuckerberg have moved to ingratiate themselves with the incoming president. Mr. Zuckerberg has dined with Mr. Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida, and Meta has promised to contribute $1 million to the Trump camp’s inauguration fund.
Additionally, Meta has announced a rollback in its strict content moderation policies in the wake of Mr. Trump’s victory. Earlier this month, Meta announced it would no longer staff “fact checkers” and would rely on a community notes-like feature similar to the one used on Elon Musk’s X.
Meta’s Threads and Instagram apps will also allow more political content, the company announced this month, reversing course on a policy that had sought to de-emphasize politics.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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