Meta lays off staff at WhatsApp and Instagram to align with 'strategic goals'

Mark Zuckerberg holds a pair of Orion AR glasses during the Meta Connect conferenceSept. 25, 2024, in Menlo Park, Calif. (Godofredo A. Vásquez / The Associated Press)

Meta says it has laid off some employees, including staff at WhatsApp And Instagram, to realign its resources with its “strategic goals.”

A Meta spokesperson confirmed in a statement that some teams were making changes to align with their long-term goals and location strategy. Specific details on the number of impacted employees wasn't disclosed.

“This includes moving some teams to different locations, and moving some employees to different roles,” Meta said in a statement. "In situations like this when a role is eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for impacted employees.”

The Verge, who first reported the layoffs, said cuts were made across teams that include messaging service WhatsApp and Instagram and Meta’s virtual reality technology unit Reality Labs.

Among those affected was Jane Manchun Wong, a software engineer known for discovering unreleased features in popular social media apps prior to joining Meta in 2023.

Meta has had several rounds of layoffs to adjust its staffing after it hired aggressively during the pandemic. Earlier this year, it cut several jobs in Reality Labs after letting go of 11,000 employees in 2022. Last year, another 10,000 jobs were cut as CEO Mark Zuckerberg deemed 2023 a “year of efficiency.”

"I’m still trying to process this but I’m informed that my role at Meta has been impacted," Wong wrote in a public Threads post.