On an internal Workplace forum, CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed employees of his decision to “remove the lowest performers faster.” He said 2025 would be “a stressful year.”

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Meta announced many big changes from the beginning of 2025. Photo: NYT

In another message, Meta shared that 5% of the weakest employees will leave. This ensures that their company will have the best people to serve.

Zuckerberg also wants to make additional hires, focusing on AI as Meta and other major tech companies race to develop chatbots and AI-based services.

According to its most recent quarterly report, Facebook’s parent company has more than 72,000 employees. So the number of cuts this time is about 3,600.

Employees who are laid off will be notified on February 10 and will be compensated as before.

This is Meta's biggest cut since the group laid off 21,000 people - equivalent to a quarter of its workforce - in 2022 and 2023.

Meta also announced a number of major changes earlier this year aimed at building a closer relationship with President-elect Donald Trump. Specifically, the company ended its third-party verification program in favor of a Community Notes model, where users would provide additional context to posts.

“The recent elections have been a cultural tipping point, once again prioritizing speech,” Zuckerberg said, stressing the decision was in response to the political climate.

He also brought Dana White, a longtime Trump ally, onto the company's board and replaced external affairs chairman Nick Clegg with Joel Kaplan.

(According to CNBC, NYT)