Meta Layoffs 2026: Bad news has come for the employees working in Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. According to reports, company owner Mark Zuckerberg is now focusing his entire attention on Artificial Intelligence i.e. AI, due to which preparations are being made to lay off 16,000 employees on a large scale in the company.

The first phase of this layoff will begin in May. It has been learned that about 8 thousand people may lose their jobs in the first round starting from May 20. Due to the increasing impact of AI in the tech industry, panic has spread among the employees.

10 percent staff will be affected in the first phase

In the initial phase, 10 percent of Meta’s total staff worldwide will be affected. Although the company has not yet made any official confirmation about this, but internal sources say that a total of 16 thousand people may lose their jobs by the end of 2026. At present the top officials of the company are making the final list in this regard. It is believed that employees whose work can be handled by AI are at the highest risk of losing their jobs.

Zuckerberg will spend 135 billion dollars on AI

The main reason behind this big layoff is Mark Zuckerberg’s increased ambitions regarding AI. He wants to make Meta a leader in the world of AI. For this big change, the company is planning to spend a huge amount of about 135 billion dollars this year. A major part of this huge amount will be spent on new data centres, advanced chips and AI software development.

Earlier also 21 thousand people were evacuated

Let us tell you that this is not the first round of layoffs in Meta. Earlier also in 2022 and 2023, Zuckerberg had sent home about 21 thousand employees by calling it the year of efficiency in the post-Corona period. The company now wants to make its structure very thin and smart, in which it will depend more on AI than humans. For this, many engineers have now been shifted only to AI focused projects.

Crisis on jobs in the entire tech industry

This trend of job losses is not limited to Meta only. Currently, companies in the entire tech industry are increasing investment behind AI by reducing their staff. Amazon has also recently laid off 30 thousand people, which is equivalent to 10 percent of their corporate staff. Fintech company Block has also taken a similar step. According to data from Layoffs.fyi, so far this year, 95 big tech companies around the world have laid off more than 73 thousand employees.

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