Overview
- Meta, which told employees Thursday in an internal email, will lay off about 8,000 workers on May 20 and leave roughly 6,000 open roles unfilled.
- HR chief Janelle Gale said the goal is greater efficiency and to offset soaring AI costs, with 2026 investment guidance at $115 billion to $135 billion.
- Reported U.S. severance includes 16 weeks of base pay plus two weeks per year of service and up to 18 months of health insurance, with similar terms planned abroad.
- The company has deployed software on work devices that logs keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen recordings to train AI agents, with no opt‑out on company laptops.
- Employees face about four weeks of uncertainty before notices, and the move follows deep cuts in 2022–2023 and rehiring through 2025 as Meta pivots away from the metaverse toward AI.