Meta Lays Off Employees Across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Other Teams

Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Anurag R Dubey / CC by 4.0

Multiple teams at Meta have been hit with layoffs, across WhatsApp, Instagram, Reality Labs, and more.Meta has started laying off multiple employees across various teams on Wednesday, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs, among others. The company confirmed these changes to TechCrunch and The Verge, noting the changes were made in order to reallocate resources.

Employees who worked on Facebook, recruiting, legal operations, and design took to social media to announce they were laid off. A Meta spokesperson clarified to TechCrunch that the company’s recruiting, legal operations, and Threads teams were unaffected by the layoffs, despite what some former employees were saying online.

Among those laid off is Jane Manchun Wong, best known for reporting on unannounced features across Meta’s various apps, before she was hired by the Threads team last year.

“Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources are aligned with their long-term strategic goals and location strategy,” a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement. “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.”

A former Meta employee told TechCrunch that some employees were offered different positions under new contracts, or a severance package instead. Many opted to take the severance package.According to a rumor circulating on workplace app Blind and reported by The Financial Times, some employees were fired for using their $25 meal credits to buy non-food items, such as household necessities.

Meta has laid off a significant swath of its workforce in an effort to “rightsize” the company following aggressive hiring during the pandemic. In 2022, the company laid off approximately 13% of its workforce (11,000 employees), and in 2023, Meta laid off another 10,000 workers while withdrawing about 5,000 open roles that remained unfilled.