He will lay off thousands of employees for low performance, according to Bloomberg

Mark Zuckerberg has begun a kind of “purge” at Meta. Bloomberg indicates that the executive plans to lay off approximately 5% of the social network’s workforce. Those affected will be employees who did not meet performance expectations. After the cut, the company intends to hire new employees to fill the vacant positions.
“I have decided to be more demanding in performance evaluation and accelerate the dismissal of low-performing employees,” said the Meta CEO in an internal statement seen by the aforementioned media outlet. The text also notes that layoffs for poor performance usually occur within a year, but now they are adopting a much more “broad and fast” approach.

Meta will lay off thousands of employees:
The social media giant has not revealed an exact figure for the cuts, but considering that in September 2024 it had around 72,000 employees, the measure could result in more than 3,500 layoffs. Although the internal announcement was made public this Tuesday, employees will have to wait to find out if they are part of the downsizing plans.
Notifications will start arriving on February 10 for staff in the United States, and at a later date for those working from other locations. Let’s remember that in addition to North America, Meta has offices in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. In all cases, affected employees have been promised “a generous severance package.”

The latest staff cut comes at a time of change for the social network. Zuckerberg’s decision to dismantle its external fact-checking program in favor of community notes in the United States has had significant repercussions. Some people have expressed concern about the measure, including several Meta employees themselves.
“Recent decisions seem to mark a cultural shift towards restoring freedom of speech as a priority. Therefore, we are going back to our core principles and focusing on reducing errors, simplifying our policies, and promoting free expression on our platforms,” said the executive in a video published a week ago.

It remains to be seen how the situation at Meta will evolve this year. The company is also looking to strengthen itself in areas that go beyond social networks heading into 2025. As it has publicly stated on several occasions, it is allocating resources to boost the development of artificial intelligence and smart glasses.