Meta lays off staff at WhatsApp, Instagram, and more

Meta has begun laying off employees in various departments, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead of mass, company-wide layoffs, these smaller cuts appear to be accompanied by reorganization of specific teams.

Some Meta employees have started posting that they have been laid off. Among them is Jane Manchun Wong, who became famous for reporting on unannounced features coming to apps before joining the Threads team in 2023.

The Verge asked Meta to confirm the layoff and will update this story when we receive a statement.

This new round of layoffs follows a small series of layoffs at the company’s Reality Labs division earlier this year. Meta initially laid off 11,000 workers in 2022 following over-optimism about the company’s growth from the covid pandemic. It then announced an additional 10,000 layoffs as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” in 2023.