Job Cuts at Meta in Ireland
It is understood that approximately 350 jobs based in Ireland are at risk at Meta.
The technology company informed employees in a memo last month of its plan to reduce its workforce by 10%, which equates to roughly 8,000 staff members globally.
Additionally, Meta announced it will not fill thousands of open positions it had previously been recruiting for.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported that staff located in Ireland received early morning emails notifying them that they could potentially be affected by the redundancies.
Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has submitted a collective redundancy notification to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in the Republic of Ireland.
The company currently employs about 1,800 people in Ireland.
Meta has been contacted for comment regarding these developments.
Context of Meta's Workforce Changes
The BBC previously reported that a significant reason behind Meta's layoffs is its increased investment in other areas of the company, including Artificial Intelligence (AI). This year, Meta plans to spend $135 billion (£100 billion) on AI.
This is roughly equal to the amount it has spent on AI in the previous three years combined, according to a person who viewed the memo.
Since 2022, Meta has implemented several rounds of job cuts, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of employees.
However, the company had resumed hiring, and last year its total number of employees appeared to return to levels similar to those before the initial layoffs.
The current job cuts represent Meta's largest layoff since 2023.
Other technology firms, many of which are also investing heavily in building tools and infrastructure for AI technology, have similarly enacted large-scale job reductions this year.
