TECH GIANT META is to layoff up to 350 staff within its Irish workforce as part of its global plan to reduce headcount and increase the use of automated systems.
Meta is aiming to cut 8,000 roles globally this year as company bosses have said that AI is set to transform how the multinational works, which equates to roughly 10% of its workforce.
It’s understood that impacted staff were first notified via email in the early hours of this morning, and that people working across different sections of the business are at risk of redundancy, including those working on engineering projects.
A spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that the department was notified of “proposed collective redundancies from Meta” today.
Meta has already made redundancies in Ireland which have impacted over 800 roles in recent years.
Agency companies which employ staff to work on Meta projects – chiefly in the areas of content moderation – have also announced layoffs, including Covalen.
Meta is the company behind Facebook and Instagram. It has invested billions in AI, and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has previously said that in 2026 AI would dramatically change how the company works.
At the start of this year he said that projects that previously required large teams of workers can now be carried out by “a single very talented person”.
When Meta’s global layoff plans were announced last month it was thought that the Irish workforce would see a 10% cut, but the number of layoffs being pursued is considerably higher.
Commenting last month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that there is concern at a government level around how the development of AI-use in workforces may impact employment.
He said that the government is “looking at proposals” to see how it could “identify the implications and impact of AI on the world over the next number of years”.
A Meta spokesperson told The Journal that Meta is reducing its global workforce as part of its “continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making”.
They added that Meta has notified impacted employees, and has notified the Department of enterprise of its plans to pursue a collective consultation process on redundancies.