MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2023) US tech conglomerate Meta (banned in Russia as an extremist organization) is planning to lay off over 10% of its employees in the United Kingdom and drop the idea of establishing a new hub of Instagram (banned in Russia over extremism) in London, the Financial Times reported, citing internal documents.
As a result of the measure, at least 687 employees, mainly in London, will be axed, with many others among a total of 5,000 Meta's workers across the country also facing a high risk of job loss, according to a corporate memo seen by the newspaper.
Instagram's workers in London are at the greatest risk, with 250 of them expected to be laid off, the Financial Times reported, although adding that the rest of the staff would be provided with an opportunity to continue their work in New York.
The cuts in the UK will also affect around 55 jobs at headquarters of WhatsApp and Facebook (banned in Russia over extremism) and nearly 60 jobs at Reality Labs, which is engaged in the production of virtual reality, as well as its artificial intelligence teams, the report said. Moreover, employees working in the areas related to monetization and advertising, as well as data scientists, designers, and user experience researchers will also be fired.
In November, Meta cut 11,000 jobs, which is around 13% of its total staff, due to low profits. In March, company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that another 10,000 layoffs would occur in the months ahead.
