Meta confirms global layoffs, raising fears for Irish jobs

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is preparing to shed 10% of its global workforce — a move that would amount to about 8,000 jobs.

It remains unclear how the planned cuts will affect the company’s Irish business, where roughly 1,800 people are employed.

A spokesperson for Meta Ireland declined to discuss the specifics of the redundancies, but confirmed the details of a Bloomberg report that first revealed the worldwide layoffs.

The reductions were set out in a memo to employees, which also said Meta will leave thousands of vacant roles unfilled rather than continue with planned hiring.

Last month, it was reported that 15 positions at Meta’s Irish operation were at risk as the company moves to adopt AI.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has previously said 2026 would mark the point at which AI begins to significantly reshape how Meta operates, with spending on AI tools expected to help “flatten teams”.

“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” Mr Zuckerberg said in January.

Employees based in Ireland were also affected by a redundancy programme announced in January last year, when Meta said it would reduce its global workforce by about 5% by cutting what it described as its “lowest performing” staff.

Meta had already eliminated around 840 jobs in Ireland through earlier rounds of redundancies in November 2022 and again in May 2023.