On Thursday, employees at Meta received a memo from Chief People Officer Janelle Gale. In line with the recent wave of abrupt tech-industry announcements, the message informed staff that layoffs were imminent. The headline figure is 8,000 job cuts – but the actual number is believed to be higher.
In the memo, Janelle Gale said Meta would be “laying off around 10% of its workforce on May 20.” The Mark Zuckerberg-led company reportedly employs about 79,000 people globally, which means just under 8,000 employees will lose their jobs and will no longer be with Meta after May 20, 2026.
However, the situation is more complex. The memo also noted that Meta is “closing about 6,000 open roles.” While these positions were unfilled, they still represent potential jobs that will no longer exist.
Meta’s Job Cuts May Total 14,000
Counting the 6,000 open roles matters because these weren’t just abstract numbers – they were active hiring positions, many likely created after employees exited the company.
That means 6,000 people could have been hired into those roles. In a market where companies like Oracle and Amazon are already laying off thousands, these jobs could have been a crucial safety net. Their elimination effectively raises the real impact of Meta’s cuts to nearly 14,000.
While Meta has laid off around 8,000 employees, its overall workforce impact is closer to 14,000 when accounting for the closure of open roles. With no plans to refill those positions, the reduction is effectively permanent. The primary driver behind these cuts – like many across the tech industry – is the growing shift toward AI.
Going All-In on AI – What’s the Trade-Off?
While Meta does not explicitly mention AI, the memo says the cuts will help “offset other investments.” In context, the company is pouring hundreds of billions into AI – from acquiring startups like Manus AI to developing advanced digital avatars of CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Those ambitions appear to come at a cost – not just in jobs. Meta is reportedly planning to monitor employees’ mouse movements and keystrokes to improve its AI systems, effectively using worker activity to train tools that could eventually replace them.
And the cuts may not be over. Reports suggest Meta could lay off another 8,000 employees in the coming weeks, potentially pushing the total impact to around 22,000.