Why is Meta laying off 3,600 employees and replacing them with new hires?

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, plans to lay off about 3,600 employees, identified as low performers, and replace them with new hires, according to an internal memo reported by Bloomberg on January 16.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the move, stating that the layoffs would impact five percent of the company's workforce, which stood at 72,400 employees as of September.

"I've decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster," Zuckerberg said in the memo.

The cuts, based on performance, are aimed at ensuring Meta has the "strongest talent" and remains competitive. These dismissals are part of a broader trend among major US corporations, with Microsoft announcing similar cuts the previous week, affecting less than one percent of its workforce.

Broader changes at Meta

The layoffs come as Meta undergoes broader changes, coinciding with Donald Trump's return to the White House on January 20. Zuckerberg has recently aligned more closely with conservative figures and ideas, including holding dinner meetings with Trump and appointing a Republican as Meta's head of public affairs.

Zuckerberg also announced the end of Meta's US fact-checking program, which had aimed to combat misinformation but faced criticism from conservative voices accusing it of censorship. The company now plans to allow users to add context to posts, similar to features on X (formerly Twitter), championed by Elon Musk. Meta has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and relaxed content moderation rules on Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding certain forms of hostile speech.

With AFP inputs