According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Zuckerberg informed hundreds of Meta executives of the plans on Tuesday.

Mr. Zuckerberg stated that the company would prioritize high-growth areas such as artificial intelligence, advertising, and “our long-term vision for the metaverse.”

Meta will also cut costs elsewhere by spending less on buildings and offices and increasing desk-sharing.

He stated that affected Meta employees would receive an email soon and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Employees in the United States will receive redundancy payments totaling 16 weeks’ pay plus one week for each year worked. Additional benefits will include the continuation of family health insurance for six months.

Outside of the United States, support will be similar, but there will be a separate redundancy process to account for local employment laws.

According to local reports, meta’s European headquarters are in Dublin, where it employs 3,000 people directly and many more contractors.
According to a Companies House filing, meta employed over 5,000 people in the UK as of December 2021.

However, Meta has yet to reveal the redundancies it will make in either country.

Kevin Poulter, an employment lawyer at Freeths, said Meta needed to follow UK redundancy laws.

According to him, confidence in the tech job market and the ability to move freely and easily between established and start-up companies “had been diminished, if not completely undermined, within a week.”

“If the leading lights of Twitter and Meta are now approaching the future cautiously,” he warned, “others are likely to follow.”