More than 11,000 jobs have been slashed in a mass cull at Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta, the parent company of the global social media sites, has confirmed it plans to cut the jobs as part of a major restructuring of the tech giant.
The cuts will reduce the size of the company's workforce by about 13%, with around 400 staff losing their jobs as Meta's base in Ireland where 3,000 staff are based.
Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were "some of the most difficult changes we've made in Meta's history".
He added that the “macroeconmic downturn, increased competition and ads signal loss” had caused a drop in Meta’s revenue that has led to substantial staff cuts.
"We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1," he said in a statement.
"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone and I'm especially sorry to those impacted."
Meta’s biggest platforms – Facebook and Instagram – have come under increased pressure from sites such as TikTok while the company has also spent billions developing the metaverse – a long-term project of Mr Zuckerberg’s.
He said departing staff would get 16 weeks of base pay plus two additional weeks for every year of service, saying support would be “similar” around the world but the company would “follow up soon with separate processes that take into account local employment laws”.
He also confirmed access to internal staff systems would be removed for people leaving “given the amount of access to sensitive information”, but said email addresses would be active “throughout the day” so that “everyone can say farewell”.
The news comes just days after US billionaire Elon Musk carried out a worldwide mass cull of Twitter staff on Friday days after his £38billion takeover.
An estimated 3,700 employees across the globe, half of its workforce, were expected to lose their jobs – with most finding out via email.
Some British staff woke to find their laptops “remotely wiped” and their access to company systems blocked.
A memo told them to go home if they were heading into work as their passes would not work.
Furious union bosses have called on the Government to show Musk, the world’s richest man, “no one is above the law”.
