Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is studying a plan of massive layoffs that could affect 20% or more of its workforce, as three sources familiar with the matter have informed Reuters.
The objective of the cut would be to compensate for the enormous increase in costs associated with the development of artificial intelligence infrastructures, as well as to adapt the company to a more efficient organization thanks to AI-based tools.
At the moment, no specific date has been set for the layoffs, nor has a final decision been made on their scope, according to the sources cited by the agency.
The biggest adjustment since the “year of efficiency”
If a reduction close to 20% of the workforce is finally confirmed, it would be Meta's largest job cut since the restructuring initiated between 2022 and 2023, when the company carried out the so-called "year of efficiency."
Meta had almost 79,000 employees by the end of 2025, according to its latest corporate report.
In November 2022 the company already announced the layoff of 11,000 workers, close to 13% of its workforce, and a few months later eliminated another 10,000 additional positions.
Zuckerberg bets everything on artificial intelligence
The restructuring plan comes in parallel with Mark Zuckerberg's strategic bet on generative artificial intelligence.
During the last year, Meta has tried to strengthen its position in the technological race against companies like OpenAI, Google or Microsoft, offering millionaire salary packages to attract top-tier AI researchers.
According to Reuters, the company is forming a team dedicated to the development of “superintelligence” systems and has come to offer contracts that can reach hundreds of millions of dollars in four years.
Multimillion-dollar investment in data centers
Meta also plans to invest up to 600 billion dollars in artificial intelligence data centers until 2028, a figure that reflects the magnitude of the ongoing technological race.
In parallel, the company has made new acquisitions and strategic moves, among them the purchase of Moltbook, a social network designed for AI agents, and the acquisition of the Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus, for at least 2 billion dollars, according to previous reports from Reuters.
AI is also changing employment in big tech
The possible staff adjustment at Meta reflects a growing trend in large technology companies, which are reorganizing their teams as artificial intelligence tools allow more tasks to be performed with less staff.
Zuckerberg himself pointed out in January that projects that previously required large teams now can be completed with a single highly specialized person thanks to AI.
Other companies in the sector have already made similar decisions. Amazon confirmed in January the cut of about 16,000 jobs, while the fintech Block recently reduced nearly half of its workforce.
Technological pressure after problems with its AI models
The acceleration of investments in artificial intelligence also comes after several setbacks in the models developed by Meta.
The company received criticism last year for the initial results of Llama 4, and finally canceled the launch of its most advanced version, known as Behemoth.
Currently, the superintelligence team is working on a new model called Avocado, although its performance would still be below internal expectations, according to Reuters.