Meta is planning to cut about 5% of its workforce by eliminating jobs that are considered “lowest performers”. The company confirmed this move on Tuesday, citing a 72,000-strong workforce in September. CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that he plans to raise the bar on performance management and remove low-performing employees more quickly.
This move comes amid significant policy changes at Meta, including the replacement of its top policy executive with a prominent Republican two weeks ago. The company has also ended its third-party fact-checking programs in the US and updated its hateful conduct policies, allowing for previously banned content to be shared on platforms.
Zuckerberg has been criticized for his handling of these policy changes, with some accusing him of using them to curry favor with President-elect Trump. In a recent interview, Zuckerberg claimed that excessive content moderation had “destroyed trust” on the platform. Meta has faced significant layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic, including a major cut of 11,000 employees in November 2022.
The company plans to backfill the eliminated roles later this year, but details on how this will be achieved remain unclear.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/14/business/meta-layoffs-low-performers/index.html